December 17, 2024 • 19 mins
Ever wondered what goes through the minds of both students and substitute teachers when anxiety strikes? Join me as I share candid stories and reflections that may sound all too familiar. From the unpredictable dynamics of the classroom to the unexpected challenges that arise, we explore the lighter side of these shared anxious moments with a nod to a quirky Disney podcast featuring the retired Epcot attraction, Cranium Command. For a dash of Hollywood intrigue, we also venture into the world of child actors with insights from Mary McDonough of "The Waltons." It's a humorous yet insightful ride that promises to resonate with anyone who's faced the jitters in an academic setting.
As we continue, we'll dive into ways to support students grappling with anxiety in their studies. Through heartfelt accounts, we underscore the importance of being approachable and guiding students towards professional help when needed, sharing stories like that of a sixth grader whose math test woes were alleviated with a flexible teaching approach. With the new year on the horizon, we'll highlight effective strategies for managing anxiety and nurturing a positive outlook. Whether you're a teacher, a parent, or a student, our episode offers a comforting blend of empathy, humor, and practical advice to navigate the stressors of academic life.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Greg (00:00):
Greg Collins.
Substitute Teachers Lounge.
You know, am I supposed to besomber today because we're
talking about anxiety?
I can't do that, I'll be upbeat.
We're going to talk aboutthings that have happened to me
recently.
We're going to talk aboutthings that happen to students
that sometimes we may have todeal with.
(00:22):
We're going to talk aboutthings that happen to substitute
teachers that just make us alittle bit uncomfortable and
maybe, by the time it's all over, maybe the time that I share my
stories with you.
First of all, this will not bea podcast where I'm going to
solve anything, becauseeverybody's different and I am
not licensed or smart enough todo that anyway.
(00:45):
So we're going to talk a littlebit about anxiety today.
I will share a couple of funnystories.
One of them happened to meyesterday.
One of them is about a uniquepodcast, disney-related that
I'll tell you about.
One's about a rather cool bookthat I just bought for $1.99 for
(01:05):
my Kindle that I like because Ilove reading about child actors
and how their lives wereaffected by that.
So let's get into it, ready,ready.
Substitute Teachers Lounge.
(01:33):
All right, you know what myplans are as far as a title for
this episode, to draw attentionto it.
I mean, that's what you'resupposed to do with your title.
I'm going to name it.
I think You'll know by now, butI think I'm going to name it
Straight A.
Students and SubstituteTeachers Get Anxiety Too, and
unless the AI function of mypublisher comes up with
(01:57):
something better, that I likedeven better, that's the title.
That's why I went with thetitle.
We're episode 274.
That means 275 by the end ofthe year.
I don't know, that's kind of around number.
I've talked about stopping thepodcast in the past, but I'm
enjoying it so much.
Just call me the Bill Belichickof Substitute Teachers Podcast.
(02:19):
I don't know when to quit, so Iwill keep on going and we'll
see how it works out.
It's funny.
Two things, and I'll go throughthese.
This is homework, if you wantit to be, because I enjoyed it.
A lot of you are coming up onmaybe several days break and you
, if you've got time to read orgot time to listen to about an
(02:39):
hour long podcast, let's startwith the podcast first.
I am a Disney fan, but I'm moreof a classic Disney fan.
You get past about 1995 whenToy Story and the Lion King came
out and I would not do good ina Disney trivia contest when I
(03:01):
go to the Disney resorts now andthey do trivia games by the
pool.
I really don't know thembecause most of them are some of
the newer movies and all thatkind of stuff.
There is a podcast called RetroDisney World.
It's all about old stuff thispast week and two things the
(03:23):
book and this happened to methis week when and I thought it
was kind of ironic since I wastalking about anxiety retro wdw,
retro disney world podcast thisweek is talking about cranium
command.
That is an old attraction thatused to be at epcot in the think
.
It think it was the Wonders ofLife Pavilion.
(03:45):
I know my kids are listening tothis and they've heard of it.
Cranium Command it's about a boyin school, I think probably
middle school age, and they doit in what's called POV point of
view.
So the camera actually behavesas the student.
So they're rolling around thecamera as if it's the student
(04:09):
and he's looking down thehallway at different things.
And there's three things youknow in this attraction at what
used to be at Epcot Center.
It was bullies, it wasattraction.
You know, overall high schoolstudents are affected
anxiety-wise by boyfriends andgirlfriends all the time.
(04:29):
And the third thing was I eventhought of this before I
listened to this and they justconfirmed it for me.
They mentioned it specifically.
The third thing is whenteachers are upset with them.
Those are the three main thingsthat give students anxiety, so
we'll talk about here in aminute.
It's really a good podcast.
(04:50):
It won't solve your anxiety,but two things that you will
learn.
It's very good for behind thescenes, for instance, it was a
point of view podcast or Ishould say attraction.
So when they got to the pointwhere the bully was supposed to
pick up the student, well, whathe really did in actuality is he
(05:10):
picked up the camera andpointed it directly towards him
so you could see his face andthen threw it into a trash can,
just as if he was throwing astudent into a trash can.
Okay, so very interestingbehind the scenes stuff like
that.
There was special effects, allthat kind of stuff, but maybe
(05:31):
the most interesting thing,that's where the thought was
planted that later became InsideOut.
Of course, you know by now thatthis year's Inside Out 2 is
brought in more revenue than anyother animated film, so I liked
it.
I took my grandson to it justto have something to do and I'm
(05:55):
thinking, my goodness, I reallylike that.
I mean, basically, somebodyopened a psychology book and
made a movie, an animated movie,about each emotion that was in
there.
I liked it so much I even camehome that day and we put on the
first Inside Out because I'dnever seen it again.
I'm a classic Disney guy, soit's a very good behind the
(06:20):
scenes podcast if you want tolisten to that.
The other thing is I gave you areference to the Waltons last
week.
I will say that the middledaughter in that was played.
The character's name was Erin.
The middle daughter's name wasMary McDonough.
Character's name was Erin, themiddle daughter's name was Mary
(06:40):
McDonough, and I found out thatshe wrote an autobiography about
her life and it's veryinteresting because she was the
only one of those seven kids inthe family who didn't have
acting experience and,ironically, her real-life family
.
They weren't Depression age, ofcourse, they were much more
current than that, but they wentthrough some of the same money
(07:02):
issues and all that kind ofstuff.
So there's really some goodstories in there about what she
learned.
She had to be told not to lookat the camera and to just go
through the motions she wassupposed to go through and I
won't give you any more thanthat because it only cost a
dollar 99.
I hope some of you go out andread it and I don't want to make
(07:22):
give you any more spoilers.
So let me talk about what'shappened to me and I'm going to
say maybe the last couple ofyears I've got more.
I'll put it in the category ofanxiety, but it's really rather
mild.
I would call it.
It wasn't serious, but it wassignificant.
(07:43):
It's not something that I say,oh, I've got to run to a doctor
for or a therapist would be amore correct way of saying that
but it is some things that hassignificantly changed what's
been important to me in recentyears.
Let me give you a funny storyto kind of change it.
Me and my one of my sons and myson-in-law went to a football
(08:04):
game in Nashville I live incentral Kentucky, so it was
about a three hour drive or soWent down to see the Bengals
play the Titans.
The night before the game we'dstay in the hotel and I came
back earlier than the boys didand after a couple hours I
started having thoughts in myhead, just like a good old,
nervous parent thinking, oh, hassomething to happen to them?
(08:26):
Has somebody robbed them?
Or has they happened to bestanding in with the wrong crowd
and carted off to jail?
And why would my mind thinkthings like that?
It never thought those thingsbefore.
But I've changed over the years.
I remember when I was stillrefereeing and, yes, I'm not
(08:47):
refereeing anymore, I'm going toget to that here in a moment I
would watch the players thatalso had as students when I
substitute teach, players that Ialso had as students when I
substitute teach and when I sawthe emotion drain from their
face, I knew what they wereexperiencing and I tried to
comfort them as much as possibleand tell them as well that you
(09:09):
know if you keep reacting thatway, you're not going to do
yourself or anybody else anygood.
You got to forget about it andmove on.
That embarrassment sets insometimes With me.
Here's what I've been goingthrough the last couple years
and why I've quit doingvolleyball and refereeing
volleyball, I should say andI've tried to roll it all into a
(09:30):
package.
I did get to assistant coachsome last year and I enjoyed it.
That's part of why I don'tenjoy refereeing as much.
Some of the referees I didn'tparticularly like to referee
with.
That gave me some anxiety, butit had gotten to the point that
I realized when I was out thereI really don't want to be here
(09:53):
and I would walk to the stand.
And it's not, it wasn'tblacking out by any means, but
it was like something would comeover me and it would take me a
while to climb that stand, justbecause I had thoughts going
through my head.
Sometime when I was on thestand and supposed to make a
call, I would hesitate becauseit was like I was having
(10:15):
concentration issues.
I told the boss that it's bestfor me to step away from
volleyball, and the reason Iused is basically what I've told
you.
But as the more I've thoughtabout it too, I was getting to
the point now that when Irefereed almost anywhere anymore
, I had had enough students inmy class as a substitute teacher
(10:39):
that ended up being on thevolleyball court as well that I
didn't want to call anythingagainst them.
They were important to me.
I did not want them to feel badbecause of something I did.
So that's why I quit refereeing.
So you've heard me for six,seven years now describe how
(11:00):
much I loved it.
I don't really miss it becauseI'm enjoying more going to the
games than I am refereeing.
I see some of the thingsreferees go through now and it
makes me think man, yeah, andthe coaches yelling is part of
it too.
It makes me think I'm glad Igot out of it.
Know, that's just one thingthat's happened to me as a
(11:23):
substitute teacher because ofthis mild anxiety, or just it's
not nervousness, I don't evenknow how else to describe it.
Anxiety just sounds like adirty word anymore.
I don't want to use that wordanymore than I have to.
I will never admit I have anissue in that area.
But concentration may be anissue that I would use now with
(11:47):
students.
I don't want to do long-termanymore.
I've come to that realizationafter thinking about it for
years.
I want to do a day at a time,don't mind working all week, but
I generally want to have adifferent set of students on
Tuesday than I had Monday allthe way through the week,
because that helps me with myconcentration, that helps me
(12:09):
with my ability as a substituteteacher.
I talked about it with aregular teacher last week in
high school.
He asked me if I did long-termanymore and I said you know, I
really don't like to.
I think it's different afterthe students get used to you.
And he totally agreed.
He knew what I was talkingabout.
Because if you come back andsee these students, maybe once
(12:31):
every couple of weeks, they'rekind of happy to be there, happy
that you're there, I should say.
When you see them every day,well, that happiness just
naturally kind of falls off.
One of the reasons I likeelementary school so well
because those students are usedto being bubbly, they're used to
being excited when they see youagain and I like that feeling
to be perfectly honest.
(12:51):
Now here's what we'll do assubstitute teachers.
We have to remember that thingsare going to happen and we have
to learn how to deal with it.
I've tried to be as diplomaticas possible.
In every school situation I'vecome across.
(13:11):
I've always said that Iwouldn't act the way some of the
older people I've seen act, howthey're rude to people
sometimes, and then I've beenmore rude here lately.
I'm going to try to work onthat.
I was with my son different sonthe other day at actually it
was at a college volleyball gameand I just knew I was sitting
(13:32):
in the right seats.
So when somebody came down and,just off the cuff, said you're
sitting in our seats.
I was a little smart aleckabout it and I was the one that
was wrong.
I was sitting on the wrong endof the row.
I thought I was in one two whenI was really in nine and 10.
Well, I don't want to be thatsmart-alecky person man.
(13:53):
I want to be somebody that ispleasant all the time as you're
dealing with your students.
It's going to help both you andthem if you're pleasant in
every situation.
Even if it's negative, turn itaround.
If it's positive, make it evenmore positive.
(14:14):
Get to a point where yourstudents like to see you coming
back.
Or maybe, more importantly, foryour own function, maybe it's
important to get to a pointwhere you love going back to
substitute teach.
You're thinking, oh, I get tosee these students today.
There are classes that I amextremely disappointed.
(14:37):
If I see an absence pop up inthis class and I don't get it
before somebody else does, I'mreally disappointed about that.
There are some classes that Ireally love and I want to be the
first to get in there.
I want to see them again.
I feel like they want to see meagain and that's the way it
goes.
So we all get some form ofanxiety issues.
(15:01):
There are you out there.
Some of you have some worsethan me, some of you I'm going
to guess as many listeners thatwe have that some of you have
therapists for that kind ofthing.
Some of you have less a degreeIn fact.
Some of you have therapists forthat kind of thing.
Some of you have less a degree,in fact.
Somebody said why did you evenbring this up?
I don't have any issue withthat and thank goodness you
don't.
It's kind of part of it's sad.
(15:21):
I don't get sad too often, butit's a little bit sad to me
because I can see as I'm gettingolder that things affect me now
that they didn't used to.
So keep all that in mind.
This, historically, is a timeof year when people have these
kind of issues more often thanothers.
Maybe they're a little lonely,whatever it is, but let's at
(15:44):
least make our substituteteacher situation as good as it
can be.
Create environments.
Don't go into a class askingfor a problem, because if you're
asking for one you'll find oneand it's not really proper for
you to try to solve a problem akid's having, but be sympathetic
(16:08):
that they're having the problem.
I've said before to a studentthat I've seen in the hallway
that that's not the happy faceI'm used to seeing with you.
Is there anything you want totalk to me about?
And the student actually talkedto me and I said well,
obviously I can't give you anadvice, but find things that
will cheer you up.
(16:28):
Let me know if you ever need totalk to me about anything.
I would be very uncomfortableif any student started talking
to me about their home situation.
I am certainly not qualified orauthorized to give an answer to
them or suggest it to them.
I would probably, even before Ieven talk to a counselor, I
(16:49):
might say listen.
I really think that this,should your guidance counselor
knows how to treat or deal withthese kinds of situations, why
don't you talk to that person?
My last student story and thereason I brought straight A
students into this is one time Iwas teaching and it was when I
was doing long-term.
So I had just given them a test, saw one of the students crying
(17:13):
and I just walked over to themthis was probably a sixth grader
and said what's wrong?
And they said this test isgoing to mess up my grade.
I don't know why I'm justhaving a mental block.
I can't take it right now.
That kid had a lot of anxiety.
Now it just so happened the waythe class was set up, we would
(17:34):
let all students take testsmultiple times because it was a
math class and we figured, well,you're going to learn more each
time you take it.
So I was able to give thatstudent another chance.
So there's all kinds of reasonsfor all of us to get into that
anxiety issue.
(17:54):
Sometimes Anxiety is going toaffect us all in different ways.
All we can do is try our bestto get to it and I hate to just
say, put on a happy face, butwhy not?
It's Christmas.
Let's see if I've done somethings.
I've changed some things thathave taken.
I don't know if I dealt with it, I just kind of removed it, and
we have issues all the time.
(18:15):
Let's just try our best to.
You know, as we get into thenew year, let's just do things
that will make our anxiety goaway.
Greg Collins.
Substitute Teachers Lounge.
You know, am I supposed to besomber today because we're
talking about anxiety?
I can't do that, I'll be upbeat.
We're going to talk aboutthings that have happened to me
recently.
We're going to talk aboutthings that happen to students
that sometimes we may have todeal with.
(00:22):
We're going to talk aboutthings that happen to substitute
teachers that just make us alittle bit uncomfortable and
maybe, by the time it's all over, maybe the time that I share my
stories with you.
First of all, this will not bea podcast where I'm going to
solve anything, becauseeverybody's different and I am
not licensed or smart enough todo that anyway.
(00:45):
So we're going to talk a littlebit about anxiety today.
I will share a couple of funnystories.
One of them happened to meyesterday.
One of them is about a uniquepodcast, disney-related that
I'll tell you about.
One's about a rather cool bookthat I just bought for $1.99 for
(01:05):
my Kindle that I like because Ilove reading about child actors
and how their lives wereaffected by that.
So let's get into it, ready,ready.
Substitute Teachers Lounge.
(01:33):
All right, you know what myplans are as far as a title for
this episode, to draw attentionto it.
I mean, that's what you'resupposed to do with your title.
I'm going to name it.
I think You'll know by now, butI think I'm going to name it
Straight A.
Students and SubstituteTeachers Get Anxiety Too, and
unless the AI function of mypublisher comes up with
(01:57):
something better, that I likedeven better, that's the title.
That's why I went with thetitle.
We're episode 274.
That means 275 by the end ofthe year.
I don't know, that's kind of around number.
I've talked about stopping thepodcast in the past, but I'm
enjoying it so much.
Just call me the Bill Belichickof Substitute Teachers Podcast.
(02:19):
I don't know when to quit, so Iwill keep on going and we'll
see how it works out.
It's funny.
Two things, and I'll go throughthese.
This is homework, if you wantit to be, because I enjoyed it.
A lot of you are coming up onmaybe several days break and you
, if you've got time to read orgot time to listen to about an
(02:39):
hour long podcast, let's startwith the podcast first.
I am a Disney fan, but I'm moreof a classic Disney fan.
You get past about 1995 whenToy Story and the Lion King came
out and I would not do good ina Disney trivia contest when I
(03:01):
go to the Disney resorts now andthey do trivia games by the
pool.
I really don't know thembecause most of them are some of
the newer movies and all thatkind of stuff.
There is a podcast called RetroDisney World.
It's all about old stuff thispast week and two things the
(03:23):
book and this happened to methis week when and I thought it
was kind of ironic since I wastalking about anxiety retro wdw,
retro disney world podcast thisweek is talking about cranium
command.
That is an old attraction thatused to be at epcot in the think
.
It think it was the Wonders ofLife Pavilion.
(03:45):
I know my kids are listening tothis and they've heard of it.
Cranium Command it's about a boyin school, I think probably
middle school age, and they doit in what's called POV point of
view.
So the camera actually behavesas the student.
So they're rolling around thecamera as if it's the student
(04:09):
and he's looking down thehallway at different things.
And there's three things youknow in this attraction at what
used to be at Epcot Center.
It was bullies, it wasattraction.
You know, overall high schoolstudents are affected
anxiety-wise by boyfriends andgirlfriends all the time.
(04:29):
And the third thing was I eventhought of this before I
listened to this and they justconfirmed it for me.
They mentioned it specifically.
The third thing is whenteachers are upset with them.
Those are the three main thingsthat give students anxiety, so
we'll talk about here in aminute.
It's really a good podcast.
(04:50):
It won't solve your anxiety,but two things that you will
learn.
It's very good for behind thescenes, for instance, it was a
point of view podcast or Ishould say attraction.
So when they got to the pointwhere the bully was supposed to
pick up the student, well, whathe really did in actuality is he
(05:10):
picked up the camera andpointed it directly towards him
so you could see his face andthen threw it into a trash can,
just as if he was throwing astudent into a trash can.
Okay, so very interestingbehind the scenes stuff like
that.
There was special effects, allthat kind of stuff, but maybe
(05:31):
the most interesting thing,that's where the thought was
planted that later became InsideOut.
Of course, you know by now thatthis year's Inside Out 2 is
brought in more revenue than anyother animated film, so I liked
it.
I took my grandson to it justto have something to do and I'm
(05:55):
thinking, my goodness, I reallylike that.
I mean, basically, somebodyopened a psychology book and
made a movie, an animated movie,about each emotion that was in
there.
I liked it so much I even camehome that day and we put on the
first Inside Out because I'dnever seen it again.
I'm a classic Disney guy, soit's a very good behind the
(06:20):
scenes podcast if you want tolisten to that.
The other thing is I gave you areference to the Waltons last
week.
I will say that the middledaughter in that was played.
The character's name was Erin.
The middle daughter's name wasMary McDonough.
Character's name was Erin, themiddle daughter's name was Mary
(06:40):
McDonough, and I found out thatshe wrote an autobiography about
her life and it's veryinteresting because she was the
only one of those seven kids inthe family who didn't have
acting experience and,ironically, her real-life family
.
They weren't Depression age, ofcourse, they were much more
current than that, but they wentthrough some of the same money
(07:02):
issues and all that kind ofstuff.
So there's really some goodstories in there about what she
learned.
She had to be told not to lookat the camera and to just go
through the motions she wassupposed to go through and I
won't give you any more thanthat because it only cost a
dollar 99.
I hope some of you go out andread it and I don't want to make
(07:22):
give you any more spoilers.
So let me talk about what'shappened to me and I'm going to
say maybe the last couple ofyears I've got more.
I'll put it in the category ofanxiety, but it's really rather
mild.
I would call it.
It wasn't serious, but it wassignificant.
(07:43):
It's not something that I say,oh, I've got to run to a doctor
for or a therapist would be amore correct way of saying that
but it is some things that hassignificantly changed what's
been important to me in recentyears.
Let me give you a funny storyto kind of change it.
Me and my one of my sons and myson-in-law went to a football
(08:04):
game in Nashville I live incentral Kentucky, so it was
about a three hour drive or soWent down to see the Bengals
play the Titans.
The night before the game we'dstay in the hotel and I came
back earlier than the boys didand after a couple hours I
started having thoughts in myhead, just like a good old,
nervous parent thinking, oh, hassomething to happen to them?
(08:26):
Has somebody robbed them?
Or has they happened to bestanding in with the wrong crowd
and carted off to jail?
And why would my mind thinkthings like that?
It never thought those thingsbefore.
But I've changed over the years.
I remember when I was stillrefereeing and, yes, I'm not
(08:47):
refereeing anymore, I'm going toget to that here in a moment I
would watch the players thatalso had as students when I
substitute teach, players that Ialso had as students when I
substitute teach and when I sawthe emotion drain from their
face, I knew what they wereexperiencing and I tried to
comfort them as much as possibleand tell them as well that you
(09:09):
know if you keep reacting thatway, you're not going to do
yourself or anybody else anygood.
You got to forget about it andmove on.
That embarrassment sets insometimes With me.
Here's what I've been goingthrough the last couple years
and why I've quit doingvolleyball and refereeing
volleyball, I should say andI've tried to roll it all into a
(09:30):
package.
I did get to assistant coachsome last year and I enjoyed it.
That's part of why I don'tenjoy refereeing as much.
Some of the referees I didn'tparticularly like to referee
with.
That gave me some anxiety, butit had gotten to the point that
I realized when I was out thereI really don't want to be here
(09:53):
and I would walk to the stand.
And it's not, it wasn'tblacking out by any means, but
it was like something would comeover me and it would take me a
while to climb that stand, justbecause I had thoughts going
through my head.
Sometime when I was on thestand and supposed to make a
call, I would hesitate becauseit was like I was having
(10:15):
concentration issues.
I told the boss that it's bestfor me to step away from
volleyball, and the reason Iused is basically what I've told
you.
But as the more I've thoughtabout it too, I was getting to
the point now that when Irefereed almost anywhere anymore
, I had had enough students inmy class as a substitute teacher
(10:39):
that ended up being on thevolleyball court as well that I
didn't want to call anythingagainst them.
They were important to me.
I did not want them to feel badbecause of something I did.
So that's why I quit refereeing.
So you've heard me for six,seven years now describe how
(11:00):
much I loved it.
I don't really miss it becauseI'm enjoying more going to the
games than I am refereeing.
I see some of the thingsreferees go through now and it
makes me think man, yeah, andthe coaches yelling is part of
it too.
It makes me think I'm glad Igot out of it.
Know, that's just one thingthat's happened to me as a
(11:23):
substitute teacher because ofthis mild anxiety, or just it's
not nervousness, I don't evenknow how else to describe it.
Anxiety just sounds like adirty word anymore.
I don't want to use that wordanymore than I have to.
I will never admit I have anissue in that area.
But concentration may be anissue that I would use now with
(11:47):
students.
I don't want to do long-termanymore.
I've come to that realizationafter thinking about it for
years.
I want to do a day at a time,don't mind working all week, but
I generally want to have adifferent set of students on
Tuesday than I had Monday allthe way through the week,
because that helps me with myconcentration, that helps me
(12:09):
with my ability as a substituteteacher.
I talked about it with aregular teacher last week in
high school.
He asked me if I did long-termanymore and I said you know, I
really don't like to.
I think it's different afterthe students get used to you.
And he totally agreed.
He knew what I was talkingabout.
Because if you come back andsee these students, maybe once
(12:31):
every couple of weeks, they'rekind of happy to be there, happy
that you're there, I should say.
When you see them every day,well, that happiness just
naturally kind of falls off.
One of the reasons I likeelementary school so well
because those students are usedto being bubbly, they're used to
being excited when they see youagain and I like that feeling
to be perfectly honest.
(12:51):
Now here's what we'll do assubstitute teachers.
We have to remember that thingsare going to happen and we have
to learn how to deal with it.
I've tried to be as diplomaticas possible.
In every school situation I'vecome across.
(13:11):
I've always said that Iwouldn't act the way some of the
older people I've seen act, howthey're rude to people
sometimes, and then I've beenmore rude here lately.
I'm going to try to work onthat.
I was with my son different sonthe other day at actually it
was at a college volleyball gameand I just knew I was sitting
(13:32):
in the right seats.
So when somebody came down and,just off the cuff, said you're
sitting in our seats.
I was a little smart aleckabout it and I was the one that
was wrong.
I was sitting on the wrong endof the row.
I thought I was in one two whenI was really in nine and 10.
Well, I don't want to be thatsmart-alecky person man.
(13:53):
I want to be somebody that ispleasant all the time as you're
dealing with your students.
It's going to help both you andthem if you're pleasant in
every situation.
Even if it's negative, turn itaround.
If it's positive, make it evenmore positive.
(14:14):
Get to a point where yourstudents like to see you coming
back.
Or maybe, more importantly, foryour own function, maybe it's
important to get to a pointwhere you love going back to
substitute teach.
You're thinking, oh, I get tosee these students today.
There are classes that I amextremely disappointed.
(14:37):
If I see an absence pop up inthis class and I don't get it
before somebody else does, I'mreally disappointed about that.
There are some classes that Ireally love and I want to be the
first to get in there.
I want to see them again.
I feel like they want to see meagain and that's the way it
goes.
So we all get some form ofanxiety issues.
(15:01):
There are you out there.
Some of you have some worsethan me, some of you I'm going
to guess as many listeners thatwe have that some of you have
therapists for that kind ofthing.
Some of you have less a degreeIn fact.
Some of you have therapists forthat kind of thing.
Some of you have less a degree,in fact.
Somebody said why did you evenbring this up?
I don't have any issue withthat and thank goodness you
don't.
It's kind of part of it's sad.
(15:21):
I don't get sad too often, butit's a little bit sad to me
because I can see as I'm gettingolder that things affect me now
that they didn't used to.
So keep all that in mind.
This, historically, is a timeof year when people have these
kind of issues more often thanothers.
Maybe they're a little lonely,whatever it is, but let's at
(15:44):
least make our substituteteacher situation as good as it
can be.
Create environments.
Don't go into a class askingfor a problem, because if you're
asking for one you'll find oneand it's not really proper for
you to try to solve a problem akid's having, but be sympathetic
(16:08):
that they're having the problem.
I've said before to a studentthat I've seen in the hallway
that that's not the happy faceI'm used to seeing with you.
Is there anything you want totalk to me about?
And the student actually talkedto me and I said well,
obviously I can't give you anadvice, but find things that
will cheer you up.
(16:28):
Let me know if you ever need totalk to me about anything.
I would be very uncomfortableif any student started talking
to me about their home situation.
I am certainly not qualified orauthorized to give an answer to
them or suggest it to them.
I would probably, even before Ieven talk to a counselor, I
(16:49):
might say listen.
I really think that this,should your guidance counselor
knows how to treat or deal withthese kinds of situations, why
don't you talk to that person?
My last student story and thereason I brought straight A
students into this is one time Iwas teaching and it was when I
was doing long-term.
So I had just given them a test, saw one of the students crying
(17:13):
and I just walked over to themthis was probably a sixth grader
and said what's wrong?
And they said this test isgoing to mess up my grade.
I don't know why I'm justhaving a mental block.
I can't take it right now.
That kid had a lot of anxiety.
Now it just so happened the waythe class was set up, we would
(17:34):
let all students take testsmultiple times because it was a
math class and we figured, well,you're going to learn more each
time you take it.
So I was able to give thatstudent another chance.
So there's all kinds of reasonsfor all of us to get into that
anxiety issue.
(17:54):
Sometimes Anxiety is going toaffect us all in different ways.
All we can do is try our bestto get to it and I hate to just
say, put on a happy face, butwhy not?
It's Christmas.
Let's see if I've done somethings.
I've changed some things thathave taken.
I don't know if I dealt with it, I just kind of removed it, and
we have issues all the time.
(18:15):
Let's just try our best to.
You know, as we get into thenew year, let's just do things
that will make our anxiety goaway.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!