The March to Mordor a.k.a. The Second Semester Slump!!

Welcome to the dreaded Second Semester Slump!

You powered through the first semester, but now the motivation is gone, the energy is low, and the finish line feels impossibly far away.

In this episode, we are breaking down why the second half of the school year always feels so much harder and, more importantly, how to fight back. We'll talk about why burnout hits, how to push through the mid-year blues, and practical strategies to regain momentum before final exams sneak up on you.

Whether you're a student dragging yourself to class, a teacher trying to keep engagement up, or just someone who needs a motivational boost, this episode is packed with real talk, smart strategies, and maybe a few laughs along the way.

The semester isn't over yet, so gear up, refocus, and let's finish strong!!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Alright, welcome back to Educational Warfare. I'm Dr. Jordan Lauer alongside my co-host,

(00:17):
the one and only Dr. Ryan Jackson. And as always, a huge shout out to our team, our
producer Tom and Ruth and our director Matt Paff. Make sure to follow us on our socials.
We're at ED Warfare on X, we're at Blue Sky just under Dr. Jordan Lauer. And don't forget,
now you can catch full video episodes on Spotify and on YouTube. Our YouTube channel is Educational

(00:41):
Warfare. Subscribe and hit that like button so you can catch all the new episodes as they
drop and you can always email the show. And your thoughts, strategies, comments at educationalwarfare.pod
at gmail.com. Ryan, what are we talking about today? Hey man, this one's very timely. And
this one really speaks to me, this particular topic. We're getting into the second semester

(01:05):
slump. I know you're an uber nerd man, you love Lord of the Rings. You know, to me, this
is analogous, that March to Mordor, man. I'm talking about that third quarter of the school
year, Christmas break is over, spring break dude is on the distant horizon. You can't
see it, is it a mirage? Friends, we're talking about the second semester slump. It's very

(01:28):
timely, early February for us here when we're recording this. So let's dig into not only
what it means for teachers and students and administrators, but then we're going to walk
away with some practical strategies to help you through that slump. Let's get into it.
Absolutely, that's right. We want to talk about this time of year because it's one that
every teacher feels. It's every teacher lives through, every student lives through, every

(01:49):
administrator lives through. And it's tough because it's something you really can't identify,
that road through February, March and April even, can feel like the ultimate battle for
survival. You don't even know exactly how things are going to go. And we got strategies
for y'all like Dr. Jackson said, this is like the March to Mordor. You know, you were just,

(02:10):
you're sitting there, you know you have a goal, you know where you're going, but it
seems so far away that you're just like, I'm not going to make it. There's no immediate
gratification in the third quarter, man. Right. Yeah. And you're like, I am not, you know,
you think about those movies, you know, like I said, we're big nerds. We're here at a beautiful
comic book shop at Cadet Toys and Comics, and we're just surrounded by all this. I was

(02:30):
just thinking like, it is so much like the March to Mordor because every teacher kind
of feels the same thing. You know, the Hobbit's that movie that the main characters feel that
like I'm not a giant warrior. I don't have a cool sword. I can't get through this. Like
how am I going to make it through this? Self-doubt. Right. I'm just a normal guy. Can I make it
all the way there? Like there's, there's lava shooting out of that. That's the end goal.

(02:50):
Can I get there? You know, so we're going to talk about that March to Mordor and just
help you get through the rest of school year and make it and make that final goal. That
way you can end the year and feel great. So let's get to it. Let's do it. So let's first
talk about what is the second semester slum. You know, most teachers know that they feel
it, but some may, some may not. Some is kind of in feeling, but having defined it, people

(03:12):
aren't teachers really might be like, what are y'all talking about? Like you've been
in school since August, so you should be used to this. Well, the second semester slump is
that mid year burnout when the excitement of the new school year is gone. Summer break
is still so far away. Like you said, it's like, I know it's out there. It's on my calendar,
but I got flipped some pages to even see that big exclamation point of the last day of school,

(03:34):
you know, and why does it happen? Okay. So a couple of reasons, let's, let's break down
why this happens because again, to the average person, you know, we've been in there in August,
so you should think you're in a routine. I normally the middle of the thing is like when
you're starting to feel comfortable, but teaching is a little different because of different
factors. So some of those factors, just routine fatigue, right? That cycle that we talk about

(03:56):
that a lot of people really lock into is like, okay, now I'm comfortable as I'm doing for
teachers and students that you feel stuck. You know, when you're first getting into the
school year, there's that, that random amount of excitement, that adrenaline, right? You
know, the, the, the first days of school, I think you could even say first week, if
not, certainly the first month. I always think of that in terms of the two A's. So a school

(04:20):
year has two months that begin with a August and April and they're both pretty great, right?
August filled with adrenaline, school, starting back to school clothes, fresh fits. Haven't
seen you in forever. I want to try new things. Let's get into it. April bookends it, man,
flowers are starting to bloom. Graduations on the horizon. It's springtime. Boom, boom.

(04:43):
Both of them pretty exciting months in a school year. Everything in between kind of what we're
building towards right now. It's the path. Yeah. And then that, like that cycle gets
stuck into, there's this lack of novelty, right? So that, that excitement, the new fit
you're talking about, you've now seen all your friends. You've now kind of, the students
are settling into like who they are, where they are and teachers to get that buy in,

(05:05):
you kind of start doing things like, all right, we're going to do this today. Cause you know,
students, they work better when they have a routine, right? So, you know, like this
day we're doing this and you change it up, of course, but you still kind of have that
basic thing. And so that lack of novel, they start getting it, right? It's now like, okay,
so we just finished this last unit. So now we're going to do this. Cause that's how we
start. Right. And so it starts to feel like a little bit of a trudge. Yeah. But not a

(05:28):
slog. Yes. It's just like, okay, well, this is what we're doing again. And I've always
wondered man, you know, the second quarter, of course this episode we're talking about
the third quarter, second semester slump, but the second quarter, which is essentially
your Thanksgiving and Christmas break quarter, to me that ends up being the biggest gift

(05:48):
and curse. It's the shortest quarter of the school year. Right. It's filled with novelty.
You've got multiple week long breaks in there. Of course the excitement of Thanksgiving,
the excitement of Christmas, New Year's, all of that, that's on the horizon. So yeah, that's
just a quarter you rock and roll through, man. Right. You come back from break after

(06:10):
that second quarter novelty fill just, and man, you're hit with the drudgery of routine.
There's no breaks on the horizon, which I think man, and I can be pushed here is why
teachers especially go nuts about snow days. Yeah. Because when do snow days primarily

(06:32):
come man in the third quarter, if they do or if they don't. And if they don't come,
oh bro. That's your only hope. Yes, dude. Did you just quote Luke Skywalker, man? Like
man. Yeah, it's H. Or Leia. Come on snow days. Your our only hope for sanity, which is ultimately
what we're talking about. So when teachers are really clamoring for those snow days,

(06:56):
I think this is some insight right here. And what they're really speaking to is what's
happening to them during this second semester slump. Yeah. It's a way to, you know, because
you don't have those exciting things you think even, uh, you know, the fall is just the way
we've set up our American culture. The fall really is kind of exciting. It's where we,

(07:16):
it's like you said, we build it. There's football. I mean, you think of a high school, right?
You got the football team. Okay. That football team, if it's good or bad, there's excitement
every Friday. Sometimes there's pep rallies to break some of the others homecoming. You
got the team, the school buzzing, if it's good, you know, and then you have some, you
know, basketball's kind of starting near that. So you got that to parlay into it. And it

(07:37):
mimics almost like our, you know, American thing with sports. Like right now, my wife
and I, we are struggling because in the fall it's like, okay, we have Monday night football.
And we have Thursday night football. Then we have Friday, Saturday, college football.
Then there's Sunday football, right? So much football in the early fall. You got some baseball
mixing it right now. I was like, we were just, it was Saturday the other day. We're just

(07:59):
sitting there. I was like, what are we doing? Is there anything on? She's like, no, you
know, cause you, you, that's where you hang out with friends and football schools a lot
the same way. You have all that stuff like you mentioned to build up to. And then it's
just kind of after Christmas break, you get back and it's like, okay, we're here. There's
some basketball games that even that winds up. You know, I would love to hear from any
administrator worth their salt, a high school administrator. Let me, let me clarify it.

(08:24):
It has been my experience. If your football team is doing well, your entire first semester
goes smoothly. Oh my goodness, man. It is really that binary, man. We're doing well,
man. That first semester was a breeze. Awesome. Flew by versus we're struggling. And I've

(08:45):
been in those situations where you've already lost in the first quarter. I mean, it's a,
it's a trudge, but when it's going well, it's almost dude, like that first semester is just
a week long. You have excitement, you have the players, they don't want to get in trouble.
So they're kind of the community's excited. I mean, things are just going to fall your
way because we love football and it's going well. Right. Oh man. I would love to hear

(09:08):
from people on that. If that's been your experience as a high school administrator.
Absolutely. You know, and then also, like you said, the snow day thing, part of that too,
is you just got this, this winter weather, like it's just a natural thing too. It's cold.
Okay. Yeah. A lot of us, we get up, we go to work in the dark. Yeah. We've talked about the,
you know, in our first few episodes, we were talking about exhaustion, the burnout, a lot of

(09:30):
teachers. Yes, we get done at three, right? Our students are gone, but unless you have to go pick
up kids, most teachers are working at school past that. Oh yeah. And so a lot of times we go to work
in the dark and we leave in the dark. And I just want to paint that picture. You know, my wife,
like you, is a high school teacher here in the same county and they just had coming home this
past week. So ready for that. You know, she's staying multiple nights, doing the hallways,

(09:54):
the dress up days. She did the talent show, mass singer thing on Friday during the sophomore slump.
Now it's supposed to be kind of energizing, but what we're realizing is, nah man, you've got to
then put in that much energy, same kind of energy you would have injected into August, September,

(10:16):
October. You're now trying to apply that in late January when you walk outside and it's blistering
cold. That just does something to your motivation. Does it not? Well, seasonal depression is real.
It's real. You know, man, people, it's not only that you're just going to work in the dark and
it's cold. Like you said, it's one thing when you're doing all that stuff when you're work late.

(10:37):
You know, if you work late in the fall, like you walk out at 5 35, right? And it's still sunny or
somewhat sunny and there's just a nice warm breeze. You're like, oh man, I can still get home and
grill out a forge. Grill out if I want to. Yeah. You text the wife or your husband. She texts you.
Brats on the way home. Right. Yeah. She texts you like, hey, let's grill some burgers. Cool.

(10:57):
No one's grabbing brats on the way home. No, now you walk out. It's five o'clock. It's 22 degrees.
Right. Dark and you're like cursing the weather. Yeah. And you're already like you left your scarf
at home. Yeah. Or your jacket somewhere for two weeks. Right. And you know, you're just like,
I don't know what to do. You know, and then on top of that, those snow days, like you said,
they're such a, they're little oasis. You know, they are just, you think like, oh gosh, I got this

(11:21):
day, this week and this week. And again, you're pulling teeth, trying to get the kids re-engage,
even that coming home stuff. Like you said, in the fall, there's that excitement. So when you have
homecoming, the kids are like, yeah, we get to dance. Right. Now they've had dances. Right. Now
they've been in school. This one's way more manufactured. Yes. And you can tell the kids
respond that way too. And man, full credit to the people that are trying to pull this stuff off.

(11:43):
They're doing it for the right reasons. Kids do say they want it. But when it's time for the
application, and I just went through this with someone, you know, the kids' motivation and
energy level isn't there either. So you're at times having to drag them across the finish line,
even for this fun stuff. Yeah. And man, that's brutal. It's one thing to get them to do their

(12:04):
assignments and their work. Oh yeah. But now I'm trying to get them to do this other stuff too.
Yeah. You're trying to manufacture that like school spirit to where they're feeling the same thing.
They're like, bro, I don't want to, you know, you think of girls in high school. Oh, it's a
coming home dance. I, you know, they wear dresses and stuff. They don't want to go out when it's 20
degrees and the dress with a big old puffy jacket. Oh man. You know, there's not that natural,
it's just the feeling of humans. And there's also a tiara freezes to your head. And with, on top of

(12:28):
that, so you have these snow days, which we all crave and want because it's like, okay, instead of
having 15 straight days, you know, minus weekends, of course, but most time we're still working and
planning 15 straight days of teaching in school. It's like you get that one or maybe two little
days of like, oh, I can catch up on grading. And it's just, that's what brings the excitement that

(12:50):
you naturally get in the fall is those kids kind of get reenergized, but they're also kind of
addicting because then you want more, but then there's, they're a double edged sword. You know,
no other profession understands or even knows what president's day is. Right. But in education,
we do, man. There it is. It's like, it's there in February. I'm waiting for president's day, bro.

(13:12):
If you check that almanac and it's like a mild winter, you're like, okay, so I get Christmas
break and I get president's day. I'm telling you, man, those are the things that you cling to.
Yeah, really? And circle it on your calendar. Like I just got to make it to, it's one day, man. It's
like, I just got to make it to president's day. Well, and that's for, for non-educators, right?
That's the thing. It seems selfish when you're like, oh, you want snow days. You got, you just

(13:36):
got two weeks off for Christmas. Like, yeah, we did. And that recharged us a little, but then you
get back in those snow days again, they're not, we don't get PTO, you know, you take a sick day,
which you have to accrue. So like, those are kind of like PTO days for us, where for every other
profession, we were like, I just need a day. We can't do that. We take one of our sick days at
Gruton and especially for female teachers, they're sick days when you have children.

(14:01):
You know, if you're, if you're a male teacher and you have a wild day of children, a lot, you know,
we build up a lot of days, right? But female teachers, they have to take a lot of days when
they have babies. Yeah. Yeah. And all of a sudden those days get less and less. So it's not like,
oh, I'll just take a day. Cause you're, you're counting like, I got three, you know, I gotta
build those so I don't have to take anything else. So snow days like, woo hoo, you know,

(14:21):
a little day with the family. That's right. A little day with the kids and, but they're a double
edged sword because on top of that, now in the second semester, you get that testing pressure.
Not only is a summer coming, that's right. But our standardized tests are coming. And now,
depending how you paste it, all this time we've missed. Now we're like, now I got to catch up.
That becomes a real thing. There's not only a pressure of this mundane, like kind of pattern,

(14:45):
but it's, I got to press because I got to get to this point. So that these kids know what the
second half of the test is, you know, and that's, that's a lot because you're feeling these dual
feelings. And I think that's a lot of it's an emotional buildup, man. Yeah. And you, man,
it really gets into like therapy stuff, right? Like as a teacher, okay, hey, you have to give
yourself permission to feel okay with being like disgruntled or tired or unmotivated, like give

(15:09):
yourself that permission. That's very normal. That's entropy. You know, you've got to do that.
But at the same time, they're feeling this intense pressure, like, yeah, but I've got this thing
coming up and my kids have got to do well on it. And there's all the pressure from that. It really
is, man, just a, ooh, a crucible of emotions during the darkest, toughest time seasonally,

(15:34):
you know, that a human being can go through. And one last thing on it too is you kind of talked
about the energy, but you also start to get this discipline fatigue, right? The honeymoon phase is
long gone. You know, you get those first couple of weeks, like a lot of people say in the first
semester, October is the hardest month because you've kind of had that like August, September,
depending when you start month of, Hey, these are the rules. Hey, this outgoing, they're still

(15:55):
figuring you out. Like, what's the pattern? Yeah. Yeah. What do I need to know? But now they know
you, they know your tests. They know how, like how you do stuff. So they kind of know what they have
to do. And you and teaching, like I've said this many times, teaching is a profession of the soul.
And when you're in those classrooms, it becomes your little family. I mean, we're together every
day. So just like a family, you start to get the quirks that come out on kids. You start knowing

(16:19):
where the kids, you know, by, you know, by January, easily, I know when a kid's about to do something
just by his tone of voice or her tone of voice. I'd be like, ah, don't, I know what you're doing.
They're like, no, I'm not doing anything. I'm like, listen, it's almost like a parent, right? You know,
when your kids like, they give you that look and you're like, I know that look, you're about to do
something bad. Don't do it. You start to do that. And it becomes that constant like back and forth.
They, they kind of drop the chippy. Yeah. They kind of dropped the respectful, like, yes, Dr.

(16:44):
Lauer to turn into like how your kid would talk to you about, right? Oh, we got to do this. Just as
tired of you, man. Right. And what you're putting us through. Right. The veneer is off, right? You
know, by, by January, February, the veneer is off, the facades are down. We're all in this thing
together. So I'm going to talk to you as crazy as I want to at times, right? Because of everything

(17:07):
that we're all experiencing and going through, you know, for, for me, man, this is where you've heard
me talk about fit leaders before. Absolutely. Um, and national movement really built on empowering
educators to live better, lead better. And it was birthed out of this third quarter, second semester
slump. I even love that bit. Um, you talked about earlier, you know, where you get up in the morning,

(17:29):
it's dark and you put your feet on a cold floor, just that visual imagery right there. I'm up early.
The rest of the world is still asleep. It's dark. It's cold. I put my feet on the ground and oh my
goodness. And it's that kind of mindset getting up, pushing through, staying consistent, persevering

(17:52):
that I found at least for certainly about a decade. I don't know, man, I made my most advances during
the third quarter, man, because when everyone else's motivation fell off, I'm doubling down on this
kind of commitment, this fit leaders lifestyle. It was just my way of reframing, you know, that
dark period and turning it into like, like a strength, you know, a strategy. And that's what

(18:16):
you have to do. So let's, you know, let's look at real quick. Let's kind of look, how does it,
we've talked about some of the reasons, some of the things that cause it, why we're feeling this,
but let's look at how does a slump affect teachers? Let's do it. So this is like the, you know,
in Lord of the Rings, on this march to Mordor, this is like the long dark of going through Moria.

(18:37):
Okay. Right? Like it's, it's a, you didn't want to go this way. You know, it's like I said,
it's dark all the time. That's a, that's a mine. It's a cave, right? So you just go in through it.
You don't know what's in there. You don't know what's going to happen. You know that there's an
exit, but the things that can happen while you're in that dark, you have no idea. Right. Sometimes
you're just hoping, you know, maybe you're just hoping for a path will show up, maybe a smell.

(18:59):
The air smells cleaner this way, just like Gandalf did. That's how they found their way out. You
have to sometimes just sit and think through your plan. So what does it do? So the first thing is
physical and mental exhaustion. All right. We start to feel burned out, energy is low,
patience is thin. Okay. That's one of the things, one of the things that affects teachers that
causes us, the grading never stops. And they were talking about that routine for students,

(19:22):
but for teachers it is to keep that discipline. It's grading and then this and grading. And you
know, now you know more than anything, kids nowadays, is this for a grade? That's one of
the things they ask for everything. Is this for a grade? That's right. And you know, we've talked
about this for, not everything has to be for a grade. Like sometimes you just have to do it,
but students, they put that number. It really is this carrot stick though, kind of deal with kids

(19:42):
like, well, Hey, if it's not counting for something, why am I doing it again? And don't give me your
philosophical take on this will make you better. Right. Whatever man. Not trying to hear that in
February. Right. Well, it doesn't, you think of the student, I got seven classes, man. I need to
know my prioritizing this or that math homework. That's what they're thinking. They're very

(20:03):
pragmatic. Right. You know, and again, we have the disengaged students, we have the standardized
testing and all of that leads up to this physical and mental exhaustion, which does make, it's almost
a self-fulfilling prophecy. Like we kind of say, Oh, I'm tired of doing this. Cause you get that
little freedom of Christmas break. And it's like, Oh, that was nice. Not doing any of that. And it's
back to it. Yeah. But it's not back to it with any, like a lot of times you don't get, you know,

(20:28):
sometimes you get different students at semester change and that can help. It can, but a lot of
schools now, especially with like more AP classes and a lot of schools going to, but then sometimes
you're starting that second semester with new students, but you don't have the adrenaline of
August. So now you are essentially who back to square one in one of the toughest times

(20:51):
right at the school year. I mean, so that can doubly compound things at time, you know, versus that,
all right, I'm keeping the same student. So the same routines, everything's understood,
but we're into that mundane slog of routine fatigue. It's almost, it's almost that. And
you think that change of students would be like, that change students would be like, yes, okay,
this is going to be a fresh start, but it's often and teachers know that sometimes it's a little

(21:15):
scary because what if this, you know, the personality is the other one. I know how to deal
with this board. If this new one, it could be either great, like, oh my gosh, my first period was
a little rough last semester and now it's great. Or it could be my first year. Man, crap. Yeah.
And now it could, it could be awful. Now you're ending the year with like, oh, I got to learn.
I got to figure out how to make this class behave. But as an administrator, you spin that, you say,

(21:37):
you know, look, variety is the spice of life. We got to keep it interesting to keep us all on our
toes. You've always got to have a spin for it, but at times, right, we do have to change things up
mid-year. I remember a principal told me one time, he's like, you know, anytime you change a horse
midstream, they're going to get wet. Things are going to happen. So it's just, you're going to be
surprised. It could be good or bad. Absolutely. And you know, the, it's also kind of a morale killer,

(22:02):
you know, the schools start shifting their focus about this time. You start talking, you know, if
you're on any of those things, especially in the admin side, budget meetings, looking at, you know,
staff things, you're starting to think about the end of the year. I like to think about, you know,
we're talking about the March to Mordor before they go into Moria. They're trying to take this
path over the mountains. It's called Corradris, right? And it's snowy and it's a little dangerous.

(22:24):
And I feel like sometimes emails in this second semester are like, Soramon standing on top of
Orthanc, just chanting, making that spell, making it worse. Like every time I read an email, like
we have a faculty meeting discuss this. It's like, he's going, and it's just making more snow fall
on my semester. Like it says, oh, you have this and you have this faculty meeting. Oh, by the way,

(22:44):
don't forget to like put your kids in these columns. Email is that enchanted sorcerer, that wizard.
I'm like, I got everything planned out and I'm doing good. And all of a sudden I get this email
and it says, Hey, you need to register your kids or recommend them what classes they should be in
next semester. I was like, I just got like a semester with these kids. I don't want to say
if they should or shouldn't do your late signing up for your professional development certification.

(23:07):
Have you worked, expired two days ago? Have you worked any gates yet? No, I haven't. February.
Got six to do. Right. That type of stuff. So it's a morale killer. It's like, you just feel like
you're getting hold of stuff, but then you have all this stuff to prepare for next year. And your
brain's not next year. You know, that's one of the problems with like teachers getting summers off
is that we do have to cram. We have to cram this type of administrative stuff into academic time.

(23:31):
Yeah. And it's so true. We're already starting to pre-plan as an administrator, you know,
and that's whether looking at faculty needs, concerns, like you said, budget proposals that
will be coming up soon, you know, in the spring, you do start to shift your, your strategizing and
you're thinking all the while you're still right here with everything that's going on in the

(23:56):
building presently and the fires you have to put out. So it's taxing on administrators in a lot of
different ways too. Yeah. Yeah. And then again, you have also sickness, you know, that coming in,
like that's more how you get sick wiping people right. Yeah. So flu hits. So you're trying to get
these kids here. You're trying to move them to the spot to like get the standardized test, like where

(24:17):
you want them. And then you have six out of your class on a random week. You might miss a couple
days in a random week and that's on top of it. So it starts to build. And then also teachers during
this time, they start to get mixed with the darkness mixed with everything else. You start
to get this almost existential crisis of, should I be doing this? Like you start to doubt yourself

(24:37):
like in the fall, everybody starts with the pacing guy. For those who aren't teachers, we kind of
try to plan out where we're going to be. So we can get tape. Everybody's at the starting line.
Yeah. And then depending where you are, you either go really fast or sometimes you drag a little bit.
And then by mid January, you know, oh gosh, I need to speed it up. And that starts, you know,
but then sickness and then snow days, which are great. But then for that they're bad.

(25:01):
And that like looming deadline of the test and not wanting to be a failure,
like have your kids show like, oh, they didn't do as well as I thought that's on me.
You start to go, am I a good planner? Therefore, am I a good teacher? And that on top of the
darkness, on top of all that weighs on you. And then you add the little discipline issues
and everybody, even though, even if you have great classroom management, I don't think anybody

(25:22):
is like, I killed this man. Like I'm awesome. You give you a great classroom management. You
still question like, would that have happened with a different teacher anyway? So you, all these
little things start adding up and you start to feel the weight of the snow on you. Yeah. Like it
just collapsed. Like you're under an avalanche and we have to kind of, we have to really fight
through that. And I think like, so what's it's, you know, we have to look at this can turn into

(25:44):
high burnout. And we talked about exhaustion. Our first, for sure. This can lead to exhaust sex
and semester slump is a big part of exhaustion. You're fighting through it. It cannot be denied.
Yeah. And you get these experienced teachers start doubting themselves and that can be really
dangerous. So these types of things of how does it affect teachers? It's a mental, it's an emotional
thing and we understand it. And that's what we're trying to say. Like we're with you right here.

(26:05):
We get through what you're feeling. I felt it. I know you felt as a teacher and an administrator.
Uh, so I think that's an important thing to really talk about and just get out in the open. That way
we can just say, Hey, I feel that, you know, and it's speaking to that point right there. It reminds
me of, um, if you've ever heard of the stocks, Dale paradox, this is named after Admiral James
Stocksdale, a former POW prisoner of war during Vietnam. And his whole stocks, Dale paradox was,

(26:32):
you know, the, the guys, the prisoners who would make claims like we'll be home by Christmas,
just Uber optimistic, you know, home by Christmas or bus. And then Christmas comes
and you don't get released. You know, those guys would soon after fall off the wagon pretty hard,

(26:53):
you know, versus a little more temperamental stance, which is you have to remain perpetually
optimistic and have faith that things are going to work out while simultaneously understanding
where you are in the present and your current situation. And it's just this commitment to both.

(27:16):
Yeah. Right. And it's just really hard for a human being to do to have that kind of commitment to
both that I'm going to remain perpetually optimistic. Hey, may is coming, man. Spring is coming.
I've lived through this, you know, you're my wife, you 19 seasons of this, right? I know it's coming.
Like you said, the exit is there. I just have to one foot in front of the other, you know,

(27:40):
and that kind of mentality, man, and approach to it so that you don't quite literally go mad.
Yeah. I mean, you can, and you can get just sad. It's, it could be really tough getting there.
And again, like I said, your students really start to struggle too. So let's look into how
to motivate students through this, because I think for teachers to, you know, we're adults,
we're professionals. We feel this, but since we're in this position, we're going to do our job

(28:03):
and we're doing really well because y'all are doing a great job. That's what you're doing out
there doing it. So motivating students through it can really kind of help lift us up because
they don't have those skills yet. So if you're kind of feeling it and it's dragging you down
and you're not motivating students and it's already dragging them down, you're trying to,
you're trying to swim up to the top of the water with an anchor tied to you. So if you kind of get
them there, it's a little easier to tread that water until the flowers, until the sun, until the

(28:28):
the daylight lasts longer. So let's look at how to motivate some students through this.
So I'll give some strategies. Come on. So understand like, so obviously we're talking
about students feel this too. And what are they feeling, right? They're overwhelmed with homework,
tests, extracurriculars, right? They've had all that. They've got a semester of grades. So they're
kind of seeing where they're at. They're either feeling like, well, this is pointless. This is

(28:50):
hopeless. I'm going to be, I'm a C student this year, unless I just pull a rabbit out of my hat
and just get A's for two straight quarters, or they're kind of teetering and they're feeling
pressure, especially some of your higher level ones, you know, they're kind of feeling that.
And that they have all the stuff of their life kind on top of it, right? Like just all the extra
stuff of being a teen, they're in school. So they're, you know, that excitement that you

(29:13):
mentioned is now wearing off and they're getting into the teenage drama and relationship stuff and
all that's adding on top of it. They're working. And again, they're feeling that like they can't
go outside because it's freezing. So they're feeling that too. There's senioritis kicks in
for the older grades. Yeah. Senioritis kicks in, I mean, almost as soon as second semester starts,

(29:34):
really, you know, but even for those junior level students who are, they certainly haven't hit senior
itis yet, but they are in full blown. Here's my top 10 colleges that I'm going to. Here's the ACT
score for each of those that I need to attain. Here's how many times I've taken the ACT. Here's
the area of the ACT that I suck in that I really, I mean, they get into like this hyper fixated mode

(29:56):
of that. So you're dealing with different types of students and whatever their goal is or anti-goal
is, you know, I don't want to do anything. I'm tired of this routine. I'm just want to stay home,
phone it in, whatever that looks like. But compulsory attendance says, nah, bro, you gotta show
up. So then I'm just here and I'm going to do anything to create novelty. Yes. Right. And

(30:22):
that's where that delinquent uprising. Yeah. And that's, and that's important things. Changing
things up is one way to gauge them, right? You got to change that. Cause like I said, they get used to
your routine and you know, you don't want to make it, I'm not saying, Hey, to avoid this slump,
here's some more pressure and exhaustion of completely change the way you do stuff. Not
saying that, but you know, if you're, if you're a type of teacher where you do have a pretty steady

(30:43):
routine, you know, it's like, Hey, here's the, we have the exam or the test and the next unit starts.
You do vocab on unit, you know, day one, that way they get the stuff and then you go over some notes
and then it's like break down a worksheet. If you're kind of in that pattern, you got to change it
up a little bit. Right. And you know, in my book, the two backpacks, we talk about novelty, the
teenage brain loves novelty. Yeah. You know, like you just said, they want to experience and do it's

(31:06):
part of our development, right? You know, as I talk about that and talk about teenage brain
development, what they need, they, that's why they try to do different things and they go do,
sometimes we think crazy things because it's different. Their brain's figuring out what they
like, what their values that we have instilled, but how the things they're doing kind of reflect

(31:27):
off their values. So exciting new things lets them test out kind of who they are. So it's not just,
Oh, this is not doing vocab. It's also like, there's a subconscious thing in them happening of,
do I like this? Do I like this type of activity for the way I learn? Yeah. And so it's not even
like, Oh, it's different. So I'll do something different. It's also there. They get a little
excited of, Oh my gosh, this is different. Am I going to like this? And if they do like it,

(31:51):
there's a dopamine dump of like their brain trains them to be like, Oh, I do kind of like this. And
that kind of brings a natural buy in, you know, and you, and you, you raise an interesting point
there and certainly use a word that I'm, I'm fascinated with perpetually by, you know, dopamine.
And that is, you know, young people coming into this situation, of course we've, we've addressed
phone use, um, especially through our exhaustion, you know, episodes, but young people are getting

(32:17):
so much trash dopamine constantly, right? Frying their dopamine receptors. They constantly need
that bump, as you said, or dopamine dump, right? That yeah, it almost is either a an expectation,
like we need to be doing something different in here to keep my attention, you know, or B,

(32:38):
if we continue doing the slog of the mundane and everyday thing, I'm going to create my own,
which is either I'm just more distracted here or you've taken this from me and I'm just going to
commit to uprising now in the classroom. I mean, I've just seen that play out, man. And that's so
true. Yeah, they will search for, and again, we see it as defiance, right? But it's really like,

(33:03):
you know, that novelty searching, it's kind of searching who they are. So if they're not offered
a type of novelty, like you said, they'll make it in the terms of something different in the
classroom. So that's when you get those behavioral things. So like, I'm tired of doing this, so I'm
going to go, I'm going to talk to this person, I'm going to do this. Yeah. And then as a teacher,
if you're really rigid, you're like, what are you doing? And now it's, it's defiance, but it's
really, they're seeking that. But you said something earlier too, man, I don't think it should be lost

(33:27):
in that you're not asking teachers to be everyday entertainers, you know, to put on your
performance hat. However, you know, prevention is the best medicine. So if we know that the third
quarter, second semester slump is coming annually, it just behooves us to prepare in advance to have

(33:55):
either those PBL style projects, right? Or novelty based lessons that we can, you know, interject here
and there to spice things up, but preventatively having those prepared instead of trying to come
up with these things, you know, on the fly can man just save you a ton of mental exhaustion, fatigue,

(34:20):
you know, just, just all of that jazz, man, we've talked about. Yeah. And it's for, you know, that
type of thing for, you know, think, thing that we can help students with, like you just said,
is preparing for, you know, understand we don't want to like, again, hey, you got to completely
redo your second semester. If you're a teacher who gets a new class at that semester, you're going to
get that little bit of kind of, oh, we got to learn this teacher and stuff. And so your second half of

(34:42):
your second semester, right? You're, you're basically your end of third quarter fourth, you can do this.
But if you're a teacher who switches that or has the same class, what you can do is your students
now know you, you know, their discipline. So first thing when you get in there, set your expectations
again, right after Christmas, like, Hey, these are the rules. I know you've been here, but I'm just
saying it again. But then what you can do, one thing to help the students do this and give that

(35:04):
novelty without making a bunch of work is you can kind of keep your similar routine, start giving
them choices. Yeah. Yeah. Choice autonomy, right? Like, you know, students have like interactive
notebooks or thing I use in my AP Euro classroom. So they have like a big old binder notebook at the
end of the year, instead of restudying everything, they can just flip through the work they've done.
Nice. Um, but so what I start doing is in the beginning of the year, when it was very much like,

(35:27):
Hey, this is what you're doing this page and this page. Now I start saying, Hey, here's the info that
you're putting on this page on your creation page. Pick one of these five things. It's still getting
what I want. They're working with the material, but now they chose it. I get, Oh, I'm going to draw a
comic book strip. Still working them. Oh, I'm going to draw a graphic organizer. It's not me telling
them now they chose you ever heard you ever heard of a book called drive by Daniel paint? Yes. Yeah.

(35:50):
That's a great book, man. And really dovetails into what you're talking about. Those three keys,
right to motivation. Autonomy is number one, especially for purpose and mastery, but autonomy,
man, just our ability to choose, especially for young people, man, we'll give them some
children. That's what they want. Like that is why they start to, you know, kind of push away. I
heard something yesterday. It was, it was kind of heartbreaking as a parent and not to depress

(36:14):
anybody, but like by the time when your kid turns 18, you've already spent 92% of the time you're
going to spend with them. Dang. It's kind of crazy, but also my wife heard that too. And she got all
sad, you know, she was like, Oh my gosh. Yeah. Cause our kids are oldest is 16. So we're getting
there. Right. But I was like, that's also good. Cause that's what they're supposed to do. They're
supposed to kind of like become their own people. And then you get to see them be their own people.

(36:37):
And you're like, enjoy that. Like they're good students are the same way they want even the
teacher as loco parentis, right? As a parent in waiting while you're there and local parents.
Yeah. As you're that all the time. Yeah. They literally start to try, want to push away from
you. So if you're given those choices, instead of pushing away from you with your discipline or
your classroom stuff, they start to have that. So they're not going to push in that way. They're

(36:58):
going to like want those choices. So you kind of make a mini version of that, of men, their own
growth, even though you're giving them the five options, they still think they're picking it.
Yeah. So you're like, Oh my gosh, you picked a comic book strip. You can say that like, yeah,
I did. And they talk to you and they feel good. So that's a way to motivate them through it.
Like you said, project based learning, real world connections, start to make them feel like what
you're doing can do that guest speaker, you know, virtual field trips, like some hand on projects.

(37:23):
And again, I know this becomes tough because there's also the countdown to testing. Like this is a
time where sometimes you want to do a really cool project, but it's like, I can't take a week to do
this because that's a week I get further my content. So it is tough to balance. And that's,
you know, that's why we're trying to that exhaustion. Don't let it hit you now. Try to plan.
Like maybe you can hit some of those other stuff and make a project week as you pace this out.

(37:46):
Yeah. You know, we're, we're currently doing some work with a school and partnering them with a
regional hospital, you know, so we're connecting kids now through this virtual platform. That's
real efficient and scalable. And I only add that piece because it's allowing us to connect more
kids to more professionals. But what we're hearing from the kids is like, yeah, we want more of that.

(38:09):
Like, you know, how often can I hear from an MD? How often can I hear from a nurse on exactly what
it is I'm doing? So breaking up this second semester slump with this kind of novelty that
has real world applications is proving for this particular host of class, which is health
occupational students of America to be just the thing in February. That's like getting them

(38:31):
excited. So anyway, man, you can break through that monotony, the mundane, but I loved your
piece about real world applications and tying in guest speakers, you know, novelty kind of platform
situations where the kids are creating, you know, uploading, getting feedback, man, all that stuff,
man, can just break us through this real dark time in second semester. And part of what she says,

(38:54):
like you could gamify the classroom. Gamer locations are really interesting research field.
It's growing, you know, you could there's a Tennessee teacher who turned their exam review
into like a survivor style game to evoke people on and off. You got immunity, just that little stuff
like that. A Florida teacher, I was reading about this, they turned their unit, basically every
assignment into like an NCAA style March Madness bracket. Nice. So if you pick this assignment,

(39:19):
then you go to this one. And it all leads to the review for the test. So it's that real choice.
Right, right. And they're like, oh, I want to do that. And they're trying to see they start going
like, if I pick this route, will I get there faster to the review thing quicker? You know,
is it safe to say now, like when I hear you say that at first, I would jump to that teacher that's
like, man, I don't think like that. I don't do that. I don't have time to do that. Is it safe to say now

(39:44):
with the explosion of AI, open AI chat GPT, that there's almost no excuse? Yeah, I mean,
you can get a lot of aids with that. I mean, it's a lot of people. I mean, certainly just idea
generation. Yeah. And that's the thing I think with AI, and we'll probably talk about this. We'll go
into a little more, probably do a whole AI episode, because I think it's something we definitely need

(40:05):
to touch on because it's like part of education now. But a lot of people see it and they're like,
oh, it's just for kids use it for cheating. They can write and we're getting ways to do that. We're
becoming smarter than that. But for teachers, like you said, if you have a system like that,
and I've talked about an AI system, magic school dot AI, which really it does a lot of that stuff
for you can put in a reading. Let's say you have a textbook thing, you can plop that in there and it

(40:30):
will make it'll break it down on different Lexile levels, like read it for kids who can't read it.
It'll break down that it'll make questions out of it. So instead of you sitting there and reading
it and thinking of like, I need six multiple choice questions just to make sure they read this,
right? And then think about how do my lower levels and they need six questions they can do. It does
it for you. That type of stuff, or literally just typing in, Hey, I'm covering, you can go to chat

(40:52):
GPT and go, Hey, I'm covering. And kind of, yes, back to my point, man, why, why, why wouldn't we
be doing that? Right. You can go into chat GPT and go, I'm covering imperialism in Europe. I need a
game for that. And it'll give you like seven options. And it's not making it for you. It's just kind of
doing a little bit of thinking and it's taking that pressure off. Yeah. And that makes, which I mean,

(41:13):
again, adds to the mental fatigue. Yes. Anything we can do to cut down on that mental fatigue,
certainly during the second semester slump, it just seems like we'd be like, I'm, I'm all for it.
I'm up to hearing more about it. Right. And I think, you know, and I'm with you a lot of teachers
be like, I am not a game of fi type person. Like that type of survivor thing scares the crap out of

(41:34):
me. What would let it, yeah. Like that does the work for you. And remember we often think as teachers
that when we try something new, Oh, it's going to fail. What is your definition of failure?
Because it may fail in the fact of if you set, you know, we all know if you set clear expectations
for behavior, those are guardrails that are up. So what's it, what's the failure going to be?

(41:54):
They're still going to be working with the content. So is the failure, this big end goal that you
created and therefore if they don't hit that, it's a failure or is it just that you're low,
you're uncomfortable because if they're working with the material, if it's you set up like behavior
guidelines, like, Hey, we're working in these groups. Don't be running around. They don't know
all that. That's standard discipline. Even if it doesn't kind of fizzles, it's not like, oh,

(42:16):
that's not this big reveal. They still worked in the content. They still did something. So it's not
really a failure. And I think what you're speaking to man is, is certainly the time of year. Again,
we're talking the second semester slump here. When you try to implement something like that new
in the middle of the year, we've already talked about the adrenaline's gone, the excitement,

(42:38):
the novelty of the new year is gone. And I think teachers or at least I have felt like,
and I'll include myself in this. We want it to be routine so fast. We want to be great so fast.
And it's back to that giving yourself permission to fail or asking yourself,

(43:00):
what does that failure really mean in this context? All right. I lost control of the class and
I'm using that loosely. Like, man, they just, we got off protocol, kids were doing this, man,
today was a bust, but we were still in content. Right. I'm still attempting something new.
I did learn from it. I learned that this part of it did not work. Right. Got to adjust that.

(43:24):
So I think we have to give ourselves that permission to fail, but it's also understanding
and appreciating it. We're doing this at a time of year where the honeymoon phase is over. You know,
when you're trying to implement something new in the honeymoon phase is still kind of going on.
It's like, well, you know, we're working at the canes. I'm getting this all figured out.

(43:44):
But you know, in January, February, you're like, I mean, I should be more together than this.
Yeah. But I am trying something new, but that shouldn't matter because I'm, you know, so it's
just back to that self doubt piece. And man, you see how this turns into like a, it's just a churning
maelstorm of doubt, basically of exhaustion, doubt, all the things we've talked about. We have to
give ourselves that grace. We all want, if a principal opens the door to it, look perfect.

(44:10):
That's kind of like our, the teacher like mindset, like if they open the door and it looks like chaos,
they're going to think I'm not good at my job. The point is, is it, are they learning again,
set up those expectations. Nobody ever, ever a new teacher, especially please hear this. You should
never ever start a, any type of assignment, especially a gamification one or one that's

(44:30):
moving without setting those behavior expectations. That should be thing one. So if you do that,
then you're good. You know what I mean? Then other than that, again, it's not really failure
if they're working with the content. So use those types of things. And you know, the final thing
kind of motivates students here is, you know, it's like when, once they got out of Moria and the Lord
of the Rings, they just awful things happen and they walk in the forest and they go to Lothlorien,

(44:52):
which is like a beautiful Elven kingdom in these woods. And it's a time of rest in the middle of
this journey. Right. And sometimes you need that little like refresher spring break. Right. And so
you need the one thing that can refresh you in the middle of that dark journey is positivity.
You know, the power of it, right. Sometimes students need to hear that they're people too.
We often, we do two things with teenagers. Now I talk about this in the two backpacks as well.

(45:16):
We often say, Hey, you look like an adult now. I expect you to act like an adult while,
while also knowing their frontal lobes not developed. We know that, but we still say,
Oh, you should act like a great. So we put those expectations, but then we also, at the same time,
don't treat them like adults and certain things. Like don't think they need certain things that we
are like the stuff we're talking about. We've talked about their feeling, they're feeling it.

(45:39):
So sometimes they need to hear, Hey, I see you. Yeah. I know you're tired. I know you have seven
other classes. Right. And I know that sometimes you're great in the other class. That's the,
that stuff is powerful and we can take it for granted. It's just, and, and you know, I'm,
I can fall, I can fall victim man of, you know, getting into this, Oh, I don't want the rose

(46:00):
colored glasses. I don't want your Pollyanna. I don't want your toxic positivity. Right.
I've got a safeguard against that, but man, one thing I do respect and appreciate, man, is the
brain, you know, and this idea that it is hard, if not next to impossible to be both anxious and

(46:20):
grateful at the same time. I've always loved that framework. Yeah. If you can keep yourself
in this state of gratitude, I get to do this. I'm waking up today, man, I feel okay. Just
keeping yourself in whatever state of gratitude it is, your anxiety levels just, and I think if

(46:43):
we can also help impart that onto kids through a kind word, through a compliment, through just
ex, you know, positively exuberant behavior in the classroom. Yeah. It just goes a long way, man.
Yeah. And just telling them, I see, and like telling them, we got this, you know, sometimes,

(47:03):
especially I teach advanced placement classes, you know, so the college level classes, it's tough,
right? It's not just a history class to where they're like, Oh, we're learning about this.
We're going to take a test, a couple of worksheets. Boom. It's writing. Like they have to write every
test. They have to do an essay, like long for two different types to prepare for the test.
It can be a sludge. And I always say like, Hey, I know this is stressful. I'm not going to let you

(47:26):
fail. Like I got the, we got this. So if you do, if you don't do well in this, I'm going to walk you
through it. Are you Sam in that? I could, yeah. I've been master Frodo, you know, like I feel like,
I'll put you on my back son. Yeah. I carry you man. Like, yeah, mortar is right there. I'm supposed
to just be a gardener, but I'll get you to mortar, you know? Right. And it's, you know, sometimes in
those tests and stuff, they can be like Gollum, you know, they're just sitting on my precious.

(47:49):
Yeah. Right. Just making us like freaked out, but the positivity and building those relationships,
if they know and kids, one part of their brain that's developed super quickly, it's because
it's overdeveloped, right? They're amygdala those, they're the area of emotion. That's why they get
so angry or so like rage real quick. Cause they're in that emotion they don't have is develop frontal
lobe. So where we go anger, logic, anger, or however we react emotionally, they go like anger,

(48:18):
logic, back to anger. There's not much to get there. It's like a blip. Yeah. So that's why they,
so when they feel they, they can tell authenticity way quicker than adults. They can sense it in you
what you're saying. So if they know you're fake, that's, they're also like, nope, you're not getting
me. Like their brain tells that we kind of lose that because I love it. I love hearing it through

(48:38):
that, that, that explanation. I always felt like I had great relationships with students and connected
in that way. And man, if, if, if that's true and I'm taking it at face value, you know, that their
authenticity radar is just in tune, man, at this stage in their life. And they're like, you know
what? Yeah, that dude's real. I believe you. And that's the thing I was, I always try to remind

(49:00):
myself. I tell my students this, I tell myself that he was a teacher, always try to be, always try to
be nice, but never fail to be kind. So I'll try to be, I'm never be nice to, I'm never going to be a
jerk as a teacher, as somebody in a hallway, but I'll do what I need to do. But even what you're
doing to me, even if you're disrupting my class, I'm going to get you or line, but I'm never going
to fail to be kind to you and what you need. And a lot of people like kind of think nice and kind

(49:24):
of the same thing. They're not nice is like, Hey, Hey, could you stop doing that buddy? No, if you're
doing something wrong, I'm going to get on to you. I always loved the velvet hammer analogy. Yeah,
that's awesome. Yeah. And certainly when I was principal and trying to keep my physique up to a
certain standard, you know, and live this kind of Thor persona, you know, so Thor wields Mjolnir,
this worthy hammer that you have to hold, but it's a velvet hammer. Yeah. I mean, it's like,

(49:48):
Hey man, it's going to be kind, but this hammer's hard. It could still do stuff. That'd be like a
cool, bizarre Thor on the next movie. Yeah. So the building positivity, being strong with them is
important. So that's how you can motivate students. You know, so, but I was thinking about this and
just kind of take a little break from the talk. I was thinking about the second semester slump,
kind of like being the March of Mordor. Like we talked about where it's hard, it's long. You're

(50:11):
not sure if you're going to make it. A lot of people are relying on you. Right. And it's like
a lot of pressure. Uh, so I was like, man, I need like a sweet Lord of the Rings poster either in
my classroom or my cabin. That's kind of like the man cave type area. So I popped over to our friends
at pop catalog.com and boom, I found this beauty that this it's beautiful. It's from like that's
Gollum kind of sitting there. You see part of it's a gorgeous poster and you know, they have

(50:35):
everything from VHS tapes that you can collect video games, collectibles and more. Look at that
atmosphere in there. I know it's beautiful. The shading, everything. That's a gorgeous poster. So
if you, if anything you want like that, pop over to a pop catalog.com, elevate your collection.
So with that, I was kind of thinking about pop catalog.com pop quiz, right? So this one's a
little bit, you know, I'm kind of merging these two subjects. So the journey can feel like an epic

(50:59):
trek through middle earth. Teachers, students are pushing forward despite exhaustion, dwindling
morale and looming challenges ahead. Right. And the Lord of the Rings Frodo and Sam face a similar
struggles. They marched towards Mount Doom. So here's my question for you. Which of the following
kind of best represents a March to Mordor for educators in the second semester? Okay. All right.

(51:20):
So is it A, the first week back from winter break when you're optimistic, but realize students
have forgotten everything, everything that you worked so hard in the first semester.
Is it B, February and March where energy is low standardized testing is approaching and it feels
like summer will never arrive. Is it C, the last week of school when the finish lies in sight,
but paperwork grading and behavior management becomes like just overwhelming. Okay. Or is it D,

(51:46):
the faculty meeting or admin introduces a brand new curriculum change in April. So which one you
got? So, uh, you know, I use some test taking strategies here, man. And I quickly got it down
to my 50 50. I eliminated C and D, gotcha. Mostly because, Hey, we're at the finish line. It's spring
time, dude. The weather's warm. I mean, once that has happened, you can still deliver bad news to my

(52:11):
face, but you know what, bro, I can go stand outside, man. And you'll let spring bro and
baseball's back on. I mean, it's, it's a different vibe for me. So I'm eliminating C and D and getting
down to my 50 50. And I still think with a, you've got still some remnants from Christmas break,
you know, new year just happened. I might even still be in my new year, new me mode, but B man,

(52:34):
that February and March, if there's been no snow days, it's only president's day. March hit, you
know, I remember growing up in elementary school, they'd say March comes in like a lion and out like
a lamb. March can be a brutal month, dude. You're waiting for it to get warmer. It doesn't. Maybe
the rain started earlier and it's cold. So I'm going unequivocally, man B that is correct. Oh,

(53:00):
that is the right one. Yeah, you're on a roll here, man. Man, I am long grueling stretch. I mean,
that's the most like it to me just because like we were talking about it's you got all these things
building up and it's just a sludge and a trudge to get through it. So that should be worth
certification points, man. It should, you know, that that should count towards licensure right
there. Absolutely. It's something that we should like new teams definitely talk about like, because

(53:22):
I think a lot of new teams just thrown into it. Uh, you know, so, you know, that's just kind of
connecting those two, you know, the, with that beautiful poster just kind of inspired me. So
thanks to our friends at pop catalog.com. Like I said, go there, check it out, check everything
you need, elevate your collection, man. Can I just real quickly, I just bought one of their posters
myself in 1981, original, um, Mad Max two, so road warrior, but it's gorgeous. It's not the, um,

(53:49):
you know, it's not the graphic art when it's the one with Mel Gibson on the front, it's got all the
top 10 list down the side of anyway, miss beautiful. It's from 81. It's vintage. Very excited
about that one. I got it from my boys at pop catalog. Yeah, that's a gorgeous poster and a
great film by the way. Oh, I love that movie. So let's, let's, let's give a little, uh, right now
it's a transition to what can we do? Let's have a little call to action. Let's survive the march.

(54:11):
Let's actually do this. Let's throw the ring. The fire's Mount Doom. So, all right. So let's break
this down a couple of different categories of how we survive this. First off for teachers. Okay.
Find small wins every day. Find something that's a win to make something to be grateful for. Yeah.
I just something there that's going to be great for you is that you can do that. I think that really

(54:33):
helps motivate us through this. It's something, you know, and you can do that during your Christmas
break. Just take a minute to be like, what were wins? Like what were things that went great?
Where were things that didn't go great? And I think if you're able to kind of break those down in that,
um, during Christmas break, then you're able to say, okay, these are my wins, but I can make these
things a little better. If I can see these things still, that's it. And I think that positivity again,

(54:55):
like you got to stay positive. This, like you said, but you're like quantifying positive.
Yeah. Like make it explicit, man. Make it visible. Yeah. Like let yourself be charted if you have to
like, no, these are things that, man, these were wins that I may have not thought of or considered
at the time, but now looking back, yeah, that's a win. You know, even to your point about emails
and the evil wizard who's dumping the snow on you via email. Look, I didn't get any emails today.

(55:18):
Yeah, that's a win. That's a win. Yeah. Come on. Or I'm on top of it. Or I didn't get an email
from admin. I mean, whatever it is, you know, or I got a great email today from a parent, you know,
or just something like that. Yeah, that's, I think that's good. And you know, the small wins and also
you want to just to kind of help out your students who we just talked about are going through this.
Don't forget to share small wins with those parents and with the students. No doubt. You know,

(55:41):
like if you got a kid, even if they went up a couple points last test, you know, before break was,
you know, one of the coolest ways to make yourself feel better, ironically, is contact a parent on a
Friday and give a kid like flowers. Yeah. I mean, you know, you know, you've made that kid's weekend,
right? Right. You know, you made the parent feel great. And then at home and you're riding like
off into the sunset on a Friday afternoon, like, you know, yeah, well, you might come back Monday,

(56:03):
say, you know, if your teacher kind of disconnects, which is totally cool. And you know, look at your
school email at all the weekend, which is that's great. Like nothing wrong with that. All you might
come in from a return email that parent gift. Yeah. A gift or that parents like, thank you so much.
You know, and parents oftentimes will share stories you had no idea about, like, you know what,
we've been going through a tough time, right? This happened and that just lifted us all up.

(56:24):
And all you did was say, Jimmy did great and is growing and I can't, you know, his test last time
was this. It's now this he's really focusing. He's awesome in class. Super simple. And you know,
those can be to that kind of debits and credits model. You know, when you pump a lot of credits
into them and the sheen like that, but then you have to pull a debit later on a kid. When you've
been communicating with parents positively to man, pulling that debit is a lot less difficult,

(56:48):
you know, as they know. Yeah, man, he won't just call us when it's a doomsday, like, you know, so
this must be serious too. Of communication open is very pragmatic as well. Yeah. And like we said,
when we were talking about another thing you do, like we said, when we were talking about
exhaustion, lean on your fellow teachers. We're all feeling this. Don't go through it alone.
Just, I mean, it's okay to just walk through and be like, oh, it's so dark today and cold. This,

(57:09):
this is the sucks. They're like, it does suck. And you can just vent a little bit. It's okay to vent.
All right. Yeah. People get this like venting is bad strength in numbers. Yeah. Laugh, find something
to laugh about, support each other. Yeah. They'll be that one again, like not to add pressure.
Sometimes you feel like when you give people strategies, you're adding more to their plate.
You know, and don't forget, man, even, even within that small team environment, thinking teachers,

(57:30):
your next door neighbor, your PLC team, whatever it is, you know, that the impact of belonging.
So when I'm sharing those experiences during this really tough time, what I'm doing is fostering
that perceived sense of belonging, which is unlocking my efficacy, just capableness. Now I
feel capable that I can make it through the trek, the more door through the second semester slump,

(57:51):
cause I've got this belonging with my team. I'm leaning on other teachers during this dark time.
Yeah. And you know, little, little acts too, that can make you feel better and it'll probably
create some reciprocation. If there's something that kind of cheers you up when it's dark and
gloomy, let's say you're like, you know what I'm, I get, I'm gonna go get a donut cause I just need
some sweet. Grab some for your stat, your team, you know, like put them in break room back. Yeah,
y'all got donuts that raises everybody. There'll probably be reciprocation. Somebody do it later.

(58:15):
Right. And just make, again, belonging you walk in and you're trudging. You had no idea
it'd be something. There's a box of donuts. I know it's not healthy, but sometimes it's just like,
Oh man, that would be nice. You bring those in on Friday, man. I'm crushing. Right. Yeah.
Either those things. You know, just whatever happens. Um, you know, personal goals. We talked
to us, small rewards, help reward yourself. Like, no, we can't take a day off probably cause you

(58:37):
don't want to like artificially do that. But if you get through the first, you know, if you hit,
you know, right now, February 1st, there haven't been many snow days, give yourself a reward. Like
I did it. You know, like I'm here. I made it through a month, something small. Maybe you go out and
grab yourself something you want. Maybe go to pop catalog.com and buy a poster. You know, just
something and that's okay. Like you've, you've earned it. Don't sit there and go, my only treat

(59:01):
is summertime. That's not your only treat. Like you've done a good job. Um, and advocate for
you know, advocate for better working conditions. If you see something systematically wrong,
speak up, speak on it. You know, your administrators and you can speak to this.
They probably want to know like they're dealing with so much. They may not know that this,
this little thing is just kind of a thorn in some of the teacher sides. Yeah. And a lot of teachers

(59:24):
are afraid. Cause like, Oh, we don't want to be that guy. Don't kick in the door and be like,
if you don't do this, you know, but say, Hey, by the way, just talking to some other teachers,
this has been happening and it's kind of, it's just odd to us. It's a little irky. Could we fix
that? They'll probably listen because they want their teachers happy. Yeah. And I think that even
kind of ties into, you know, how can administrators help out through this time through the second

(59:48):
semester slump. And part of that is things we've talked about providing autonomy to teachers, man,
if you've got a professional development day coming up, man, don't just do what you think
needs to happen. Or even some of these unfortunately mandated district directives, you have got to spice
this up with some autonomy, right? Hearing from your teachers, Hey, what makes sense for us to be

(01:00:14):
digging into right now? We've got to do this professional development piece, but there's no
reason why you can't give them some autonomy, some choice into that to actually do something
that's worthwhile. And also, you know, recognizing those struggling teachers. That means listening
when they bring their attentions and their struggles to you, but also being perceptive.

(01:00:36):
That means canvassing your building, having your finger on the pulse, different wings,
different teams, different teachers. You know, I love, we were in close proximity to a neighborhood
Sonic. So, you know, on Fridays ever so often, man, I'm just going there and picking up those
Route 44 Sonics for the entire staff. And then, you know, even in mid winter, man, you get a slushy

(01:00:58):
of that size, just that sugar bomb late afternoon. Yeah, I get an ocean water. I'm happy. Yeah,
come on, man. I mean, that's just little things like that can really go a long way and kind of
pull somebody through. So there are things we can do even as administrators to somewhat lighten the
load, to impact positivity, to help create belonging in a time when we can feel very isolated

(01:01:19):
and cold, both metaphorically and literally just going out of our way, man, to see teachers and
make sure that they're valued and they're heard, feeling grateful about what we're trying to do,
less anxious. I think it goes for both teachers and administrators. Absolutely. And, you know,
with administrators too, that just showing that care really, and we all know you care,

(01:01:41):
but just kind of showing that, showing teachers that they're going through that. You know, like
don't, like you said, professional development, make it meaningful. If there's a random February
staff meeting that's just kind of in February, you have no idea how much it means teachers like,
Hey, we're, you know, staff meeting, we're going to be here. Just catch up on stuff. That's, you

(01:02:02):
know, come see us. We got a little treat for you and you sign out. Come see us at three 45 until
then just your time to just kind of catch up with stuff. They come down, they sign the sign in
sheet, you hand them a little treat. Like you said, something like that. And they get to go home
and that was the faculty meeting. That means a lot. Cause one, they kind of were able to prioritize,
like they thought they had to be there. So they kind of shifted their schedule of getting kids
and stuff. So they got to do something and they get a little treat instead of sitting through like,

(01:02:26):
yeah, something, a lot of the veteran teachers, you know, well, you have to make sure that your
testing forms like we know I've been doing this 15 years. I know, you know, a new teachers definitely
need to know. And you may have some one-on-ones with them, but that just those little moments
where it's not just, I'm sitting in this meeting because it's the second Tuesday. It can go a long
way. Yeah. And for parents and students, you know, parents support your students by reinforcing those

(01:02:47):
healthy habits. Like you're us, like we are a reciprocal cycle of helping each other. You know,
we're going to get them educated. We're going to make sure they do all the things you're supposed
to do at school at home, you know, make sure they're doing their homework. Don't let that like
darkness and stuff kind of get them to where they're just, you know, not doing their stuff and then
falling behind. And then you got to have a rough fourth quarter because now they're catching up,

(01:03:08):
you know, let's not let that happen because that, that weighs you down. Right. For sure. You know,
tell them to stay in strong, finish strong, small rewards work for students too. You know, just
like I found in this, especially if you've kept your class and you really get to know them in the
second semester, you know, some things in the first semester you may have made mandatory,
just start making extra credit, right? Like the ones you're going to know who needs it. Like you

(01:03:31):
can do like, it might be like, okay, I did that. You know, I did this understanding worksheet
to kind of check, make that extra credit, you know, and the ones who want to do it, do it. They get a
little reward or I'm just hearing you say, remain flexible. Yes. At a time when the cold can make us
feel so rigid and frigid remain flexible above all else, right? Be like water. Yeah. When it seems

(01:03:57):
like it's going this way, man, then shift it back this way. And just remembering that you do have
that kind of flexibility by nature as a teacher, you are highly adaptable, right? So lean into
those things, you know, especially during, during this time of year. Yeah. And just like I said
earlier, remember, you know, failure is, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves because we want to be

(01:04:21):
great and we want everything to be awesome and our class to be perfect, but failure is what's your
definition? Like if they're working with the content and no, you didn't get the end goal, but
if your room's not on fire, you know, if there's not a mass riot in your room, it's not really a
failure. Like the kids are doing that. So try those things. Understand if they're working with the
content, you're good. And the second semester is tough, but you're not alone. Keep pushing forward,

(01:04:46):
lean on your team, you know, and remember summer's coming and it gets there. You're doing a good job.
Like you were there, you're doing a good job. You're gonna be flexible. That's right. So I think
this is a really cool, I mean, it's a cool topic to just get out there. It is. And it's a very honest
topic. I mean, and anybody that's in the profession or been in the profession understands the
authenticity of this particular topic, how pragmatic it is, how real it is for so many people, if not

(01:05:09):
all people literally involved in it. So, man, I'm glad we touched on this one and would love to hear,
you know, from our audience, again, back to that, that principal question that I had for administrators
at the high school level, you know, if you are a high school principal and your football team is
doing well, I would love to know how that impacts your entire first semester and it's running. So

(01:05:33):
great, great episode, Dr. J. Yeah, thanks. I mean, thanks. Thank you all for joining us at
Educational Warfare. Remember the second semester is brutal, but we're in this fight together.
You know, when that spring weather starts coming, those are the Eagles flying in to come take us
back to Rivendell and then we'll be in this beautiful area. We'll be with our friends,
we'll be hanging out. We can all do this, right? Frodo made it to Mount Doom, so can you. So thank

(01:05:56):
you for being here. Send us your strategies, like Dr. Jackson said, to educationalwarfare.pod
at gmail.com, you know, and follow us at eduwarfare on X, follow the YouTube channel at
Educational Warfare and for Dr. Ryan Jackson, for Tom and Ruth, for Matt Paff, I'm Dr. Jordan
Lauer saying thank you for listening and thank you for being a part of this.

(01:06:19):
Thank you for being a part of the fight.