December 8, 2024 • 13 mins
Feeling buried under an avalanche of emails and endless lesson plans? You're not alone, and there's a way out. This episode of the Teachers Ed podcast promises to equip you with effective wellness strategies and practical classroom tips to conquer the chaos and reclaim your balance. Join me, Edward DeShazer, as we tackle the universal educator's challenge of feeling overwhelmed. With a new structure placing a stronger focus on wellness, you’ll learn how to transform a mile-long to-do list into manageable tasks that won't leave you stressed and frazzled.
Discover my personal techniques for maintaining sanity amidst the frenzy, such as the magic of post-it notes, the efficiency of digital lists, and the productive pressure of an Amazon cube timer. These simple yet powerful tools can shift your mindset from panic to problem-solving, helping you prioritize and chunk tasks effectively. By the end of this episode, you'll have a toolkit full of strategies to create a more manageable and enjoyable school environment for yourself and your students. Embrace these insights and transform how you handle your everyday educational duties.
www.EdwardDeShazer.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome back to the Teachers Ed podcast, the place
where the best and brightest ineducation come to be inspired,
to connect, to learn and to grow.
I'm your host, edward DeShazer,and today we are diving into
something that I know everyteacher, every school leader
experiences at some point, andthat is being overwhelmed.
(00:25):
There is that feeling whenemails keep piling up, when
lesson plans aren't done, themeetings keep coming, and you
start to feel overwhelmed andthat can feel suffocating.
But it does not have to takeover Today.
Today I'm going to give yousome wellness strategies to help
(00:48):
you reduce that overwhelmingfeeling and find a little more
balance.
And in between that, I'm goingto give you some teaching tips
that can really help you makeyour classroom environment more
manageable Maybe it's yourschool environment more
manageable for you and yourstudents and for your staff.
So this is a little differentthan how it used to go.
(01:09):
It used to be teaching tip,wellness tip, teaching tip, but
the overwhelming feedback frompeople is that they want more
wellness tips.
So, going forward, I'm going toflip the sandwich.
It's going to be wellness,teaching, wellness.
So let's jump right in and whenwe get into education, we think
about education, we think ofthat to do list that we have
(01:30):
every single day.
That just feels like it's amile long.
Start thinking, you know, likehow will I get all of this done?
You know, leaders, we walk inwith all these plans of how our
day is going to go and by 9 am,day is completely flipped upside
(01:50):
down and by the end of the day,nothing that you plan on doing
gets done.
And then there's that overwhelmthat begins talking to you, and
one of the simplest ways for usto tackle this is to break our
bigger tasks down into smallerand more actionable steps.
The reason why this works iswhen you take a big task and
(02:15):
divide it into smaller pieces,your brain shifts from panic to
problem solving.
You can go from I can't do thisto I can do this one small
thing.
So here's a couple ways to makeit work.
Number one writing it all down,starting your day.
I am the king of post-it notes.
(02:35):
If someone were to look at mydesk, they would think I was
trying to solve a crime, becausethere are post-it notes
everywhere.
So get it all out of your head.
Get it on paper so it's notswirling in your mind.
Another thing that I do when Ithink of my tasks.
I use my to-do list in my phonethat way, as things come to
mind, whether I'm getting readyin the morning, whether it's at
(02:55):
night, whether it's in thebathroom, wherever it may be, I
put those things in there.
So come the time when I'm at mydesk, I'm not like, oh man,
what was that thing I wasthinking about yesterday?
I already have it in my phonelooking and waiting for me.
Number two is to prioritize.
You can look at your list anddecide what needs your attention
(03:17):
first.
This could be the most urgenttask, or it could be the one
that's just causing you the moststress.
Sometimes we think the onesthat are urgent for everyone
else they don't cause us themost stress.
But there's one that's causingyou the most stress.
I would encourage you to tacklethe one that's causing you the
most stress.
And three is the chunk it.
By breaking each task intosmall, manageable steps, it
(03:39):
allows you to first you knowyou're choosing the main
objective.
It allows you to first you knowyou're choosing the main
objective you get to identifywhatever resources and materials
that you need to get that taskdone and you can write it out in
a rough schedule and then finetune the details.
So that's an example of how tochunk.
(04:01):
You know if you're doing yourlesson plans, you know.
So, figuring it out that way,one of the things that's been
super, super helpful for me, foryour real life example is is on
Amazon they have these littlecubes.
I think it was like $10, but oneach side of the cube is a
different time five minutes, 10minutes, 25 minutes and 50
minutes, I believe, are thetimes I don't have it in front
of me because while I'mrecording this I keep that in my
(04:22):
office so I don't forget it.
But what that does some of us,most people work I can't say
most people.
A lot of people work betterunder pressure.
So this cube allows me to kindof put some pressure on myself,
where I will set the timer 10minutes and say all right, I
need to do X, y and Z, I need toaccomplish all my emails, and I
have 10 minutes to do it.
(04:43):
Until that timer goes off oruntil I'm done, I'm not picking
up my phone, I'm not checkingFacebook, I'm not doing anything
other than accomplishing thattask.
So that's a very easy tool.
I think it's like 10 to 15bucks If you search on Amazon
like time cube.
I'm sure some will pop up.
(05:04):
There's probably a million ofthem, but I would encourage you
all to get one of those.
The actionable step that I wantus to think about this today is
I want us to think about onetask that's overwhelming you,
and I want you to break it intothree small steps and just
tackle one of them today.
By the end of the day, you willfeel more in control of that
(05:27):
task, so that's what I need youto do Now.
Before I move into the teachingtip, I want to take a moment to
tell you about the Be WellTeacher Academy.
If you've been feelingoverwhelmed, this is the
community that is designed tohelp educators like you recharge
and find balance.
We're going to have monthlyworkshops, guided meditations,
(05:49):
reflective practices, but, mostimportantly, it's a supportive
community of educators who trulyunderstand the journey that
you're on.
And the best part, the first250 members are going to receive
lifetime free access to theseresources.
Visit wwwbewellteachercom tojoin today, and I want you to
(06:09):
remember that managing overwhelmstarts by investing in yourself
.
Your teaching tip for the day,the teaching tip that I want to
discuss, is using flexibledeadlines in the classroom.
This is something that is notused often, but it really helps
shift the gears of not just youfeeling overwhelmed, but also
your students feelingoverwhelmed.
(06:30):
Why flexible deadlines work forstudents.
Number one it reduces anxietyand gives them room to
prioritize whatever they havegoing on, especially those high
school students that arejuggling multiple classes.
Some may be working, some arebeing adults for their siblings
while trying to navigate being astudent at the first time.
Why flexible deadlines areimportant for educators and why
(06:55):
they work for educators is itgives you breathing room to
manage your grading schedulewithout feeling rushed.
By allowing them a flexibledeadline to turn things in.
It allows you a flexibledeadline to get things back to
them.
Some of the ways you canimplement this is first, set a
range Instead of your homeworkis due Tuesday.
Give them a window you can letthem know hey, this project is
(07:18):
going to be due anytime betweenMonday and Wednesday.
This really allows a graceperiod where then they can
submit their homework withoutpenalty.
Oftentimes we're looking topenalize them for not meeting
the deadlines, where, right now,we're trying to teach these
kids and our students skillsthat allow them to be successful
(07:38):
when they get out of theclassroom.
And then number three for how toimplement.
This is teaching students toadvocate for themselves by
letting you know when they needan extension.
What this does is thisencourages communication, this
builds responsibility and thisbuilds trust.
This is such an easy way toteach students how the real
(08:01):
world is going to be.
I know there's someonelistening like, but the real
world says that my lesson plansare due on Monday, but how many
times has Monday came and yourlesson plans weren't in?
How many times has your schooloffice called when your
attendance is due at 9 am andyou have not gotten it done?
Like life is about graceperiods, life is about
(08:21):
extensions.
So this is encouraging ourstudents how to properly
communicate when they need thoseextensions.
So the reflection that I wouldgive you for this is I want you
to think of one assignmentthat's coming up I know the
holidays are coming, but thinkof one assignment where you
could introduce just a littlemore flexibility in your
classroom and I want then foryou to think about how can this
(08:42):
benefit both you and yourstudents.
Sometimes, as we pivot into oursecond and final wellness tip,
sometimes it's not about theworkload, it's about how we let
it stack up without givingourselves a break.
(09:02):
Workload, it's about how we letit stack up without giving
ourselves a break, and the tipthat I'm going to give you today
is building a five-minute resetinto your day.
A five-minute reset really canbe the difference between
feeling like things arespiraling into stress or
regaining your focus.
There's a simple reset routinethat you can try.
Number one is just steppingaway, physically, getting up and
moving away from your desk,your classroom, your computer,
(09:24):
whatever task you may be workingon.
I try to do this a lot.
I try to just get up and walkaway from my computer because I
just my eyes need a break, mymind needs a break, and I'll
take that time just to walkaround the building.
Teachers, if you have time forstuff like that when you're
focusing, this could be in theclassroom, this could be at home
just physically getting up andmoving away from whatever it is
that you're working on.
(09:45):
Number two focusing on ourbreathing by taking slow, deep
breaths inhaling for four counts, holding for four counts,
exhaling for four, repeat thisfor one or two minutes.
You can do this while your kidsare in the classroom working on
something.
You can do this while your kidsare at lunch and you're just
like I just need to breathe, butreally being able to manage and
(10:05):
take control and focus on ourbreathing.
And the third step is tovisualize calm.
Close your eyes and picture aplace and listen.
Don't close your eyes right now, while you're driving or while
you're listening to this, unlessyou're at home or somewhere
quiet.
Then close your eyes and what Iwould encourage you to do is
picture a place or moment thatmakes you feel peaceful.
(10:26):
Maybe it's a beach, maybe it'son the couch snuggled up with
your family, maybe it's yourquiet morning with your coffee,
or maybe it's just a favoritememory.
A quick reset and visualizingcalm.
It helps calm your nervoussystem, it helps clear your mind
and it gives you a moment torecharge before diving back in
to whatever task you are workingon.
(10:49):
When you are overwhelmed, fiveminutes can really just make a
difference.
Step away, take a deep breathand give yourself permission to
reset.
You don't have to do it all atonce.
Whatever it is in life, you donot have to do it all at once.
An actionable step that I wantto give you because, as I always
(11:12):
say, I'm trying to give youactionable things that you can
take and do not just like, hey,listen to this guy talk.
But what actions can you take?
I want you to schedule onefive-minute reset into your day
this week, whether it's betweenclass, during your lunch, after
school.
I want you to actually put thisright now, if you're not
driving, put this into yourphone as a time where it is
(11:35):
scheduled out, where you addthat five minutes to reset and
give yourself permission topause.
Reset and give yourselfpermission to pause.
I want to really thank you, as Ialways, it's an honor for
people, whether it's two peoplelistening or 200 or 2,000 people
listening.
I just always want to thank youfor really spending.
(11:58):
You're spending time with me.
Although it's virtual, we arestill spending time together.
So thank you, thank you, thankyou for tuning in, for spending
this time with me.
If you have not, I always askplease like, please subscribe,
please tell a friend.
If there's something here thathelped you, please share it with
someone else.
And I want you to remember thatwhen you take care of yourself
(12:19):
and you take care of thosearound you, you are building a
stronger and more connectedschool community.
I want to encourage you to keepbelieving in your students,
keep believing in yourcolleagues and, most importantly
, keep believing in yourself.
Until next time, stay inspired,stay connected and keep growing
(12:40):
.
Welcome back to the Teachers Ed podcast, the place
where the best and brightest ineducation come to be inspired,
to connect, to learn and to grow.
I'm your host, edward DeShazer,and today we are diving into
something that I know everyteacher, every school leader
experiences at some point, andthat is being overwhelmed.
(00:25):
There is that feeling whenemails keep piling up, when
lesson plans aren't done, themeetings keep coming, and you
start to feel overwhelmed andthat can feel suffocating.
But it does not have to takeover Today.
Today I'm going to give yousome wellness strategies to help
(00:48):
you reduce that overwhelmingfeeling and find a little more
balance.
And in between that, I'm goingto give you some teaching tips
that can really help you makeyour classroom environment more
manageable Maybe it's yourschool environment more
manageable for you and yourstudents and for your staff.
So this is a little differentthan how it used to go.
(01:09):
It used to be teaching tip,wellness tip, teaching tip, but
the overwhelming feedback frompeople is that they want more
wellness tips.
So, going forward, I'm going toflip the sandwich.
It's going to be wellness,teaching, wellness.
So let's jump right in and whenwe get into education, we think
about education, we think ofthat to do list that we have
(01:30):
every single day.
That just feels like it's amile long.
Start thinking, you know, likehow will I get all of this done?
You know, leaders, we walk inwith all these plans of how our
day is going to go and by 9 am,day is completely flipped upside
(01:50):
down and by the end of the day,nothing that you plan on doing
gets done.
And then there's that overwhelmthat begins talking to you, and
one of the simplest ways for usto tackle this is to break our
bigger tasks down into smallerand more actionable steps.
The reason why this works iswhen you take a big task and
(02:15):
divide it into smaller pieces,your brain shifts from panic to
problem solving.
You can go from I can't do thisto I can do this one small
thing.
So here's a couple ways to makeit work.
Number one writing it all down,starting your day.
I am the king of post-it notes.
(02:35):
If someone were to look at mydesk, they would think I was
trying to solve a crime, becausethere are post-it notes
everywhere.
So get it all out of your head.
Get it on paper so it's notswirling in your mind.
Another thing that I do when Ithink of my tasks.
I use my to-do list in my phonethat way, as things come to
mind, whether I'm getting readyin the morning, whether it's at
(02:55):
night, whether it's in thebathroom, wherever it may be, I
put those things in there.
So come the time when I'm at mydesk, I'm not like, oh man,
what was that thing I wasthinking about yesterday?
I already have it in my phonelooking and waiting for me.
Number two is to prioritize.
You can look at your list anddecide what needs your attention
(03:17):
first.
This could be the most urgenttask, or it could be the one
that's just causing you the moststress.
Sometimes we think the onesthat are urgent for everyone
else they don't cause us themost stress.
But there's one that's causingyou the most stress.
I would encourage you to tacklethe one that's causing you the
most stress.
And three is the chunk it.
By breaking each task intosmall, manageable steps, it
(03:39):
allows you to first you knowyou're choosing the main
objective.
It allows you to first you knowyou're choosing the main
objective you get to identifywhatever resources and materials
that you need to get that taskdone and you can write it out in
a rough schedule and then finetune the details.
So that's an example of how tochunk.
(04:01):
You know if you're doing yourlesson plans, you know.
So, figuring it out that way,one of the things that's been
super, super helpful for me, foryour real life example is is on
Amazon they have these littlecubes.
I think it was like $10, but oneach side of the cube is a
different time five minutes, 10minutes, 25 minutes and 50
minutes, I believe, are thetimes I don't have it in front
of me because while I'mrecording this I keep that in my
(04:22):
office so I don't forget it.
But what that does some of us,most people work I can't say
most people.
A lot of people work betterunder pressure.
So this cube allows me to kindof put some pressure on myself,
where I will set the timer 10minutes and say all right, I
need to do X, y and Z, I need toaccomplish all my emails, and I
have 10 minutes to do it.
(04:43):
Until that timer goes off oruntil I'm done, I'm not picking
up my phone, I'm not checkingFacebook, I'm not doing anything
other than accomplishing thattask.
So that's a very easy tool.
I think it's like 10 to 15bucks If you search on Amazon
like time cube.
I'm sure some will pop up.
(05:04):
There's probably a million ofthem, but I would encourage you
all to get one of those.
The actionable step that I wantus to think about this today is
I want us to think about onetask that's overwhelming you,
and I want you to break it intothree small steps and just
tackle one of them today.
By the end of the day, you willfeel more in control of that
(05:27):
task, so that's what I need youto do Now.
Before I move into the teachingtip, I want to take a moment to
tell you about the Be WellTeacher Academy.
If you've been feelingoverwhelmed, this is the
community that is designed tohelp educators like you recharge
and find balance.
We're going to have monthlyworkshops, guided meditations,
(05:49):
reflective practices, but, mostimportantly, it's a supportive
community of educators who trulyunderstand the journey that
you're on.
And the best part, the first250 members are going to receive
lifetime free access to theseresources.
Visit wwwbewellteachercom tojoin today, and I want you to
(06:09):
remember that managing overwhelmstarts by investing in yourself
.
Your teaching tip for the day,the teaching tip that I want to
discuss, is using flexibledeadlines in the classroom.
This is something that is notused often, but it really helps
shift the gears of not just youfeeling overwhelmed, but also
your students feelingoverwhelmed.
(06:30):
Why flexible deadlines work forstudents.
Number one it reduces anxietyand gives them room to
prioritize whatever they havegoing on, especially those high
school students that arejuggling multiple classes.
Some may be working, some arebeing adults for their siblings
while trying to navigate being astudent at the first time.
Why flexible deadlines areimportant for educators and why
(06:55):
they work for educators is itgives you breathing room to
manage your grading schedulewithout feeling rushed.
By allowing them a flexibledeadline to turn things in.
It allows you a flexibledeadline to get things back to
them.
Some of the ways you canimplement this is first, set a
range Instead of your homeworkis due Tuesday.
Give them a window you can letthem know hey, this project is
(07:18):
going to be due anytime betweenMonday and Wednesday.
This really allows a graceperiod where then they can
submit their homework withoutpenalty.
Oftentimes we're looking topenalize them for not meeting
the deadlines, where, right now,we're trying to teach these
kids and our students skillsthat allow them to be successful
(07:38):
when they get out of theclassroom.
And then number three for how toimplement.
This is teaching students toadvocate for themselves by
letting you know when they needan extension.
What this does is thisencourages communication, this
builds responsibility and thisbuilds trust.
This is such an easy way toteach students how the real
(08:01):
world is going to be.
I know there's someonelistening like, but the real
world says that my lesson plansare due on Monday, but how many
times has Monday came and yourlesson plans weren't in?
How many times has your schooloffice called when your
attendance is due at 9 am andyou have not gotten it done?
Like life is about graceperiods, life is about
(08:21):
extensions.
So this is encouraging ourstudents how to properly
communicate when they need thoseextensions.
So the reflection that I wouldgive you for this is I want you
to think of one assignmentthat's coming up I know the
holidays are coming, but thinkof one assignment where you
could introduce just a littlemore flexibility in your
classroom and I want then foryou to think about how can this
(08:42):
benefit both you and yourstudents.
Sometimes, as we pivot into oursecond and final wellness tip,
sometimes it's not about theworkload, it's about how we let
it stack up without givingourselves a break.
(09:02):
Workload, it's about how we letit stack up without giving
ourselves a break, and the tipthat I'm going to give you today
is building a five-minute resetinto your day.
A five-minute reset really canbe the difference between
feeling like things arespiraling into stress or
regaining your focus.
There's a simple reset routinethat you can try.
Number one is just steppingaway, physically, getting up and
moving away from your desk,your classroom, your computer,
(09:24):
whatever task you may be workingon.
I try to do this a lot.
I try to just get up and walkaway from my computer because I
just my eyes need a break, mymind needs a break, and I'll
take that time just to walkaround the building.
Teachers, if you have time forstuff like that when you're
focusing, this could be in theclassroom, this could be at home
just physically getting up andmoving away from whatever it is
that you're working on.
(09:45):
Number two focusing on ourbreathing by taking slow, deep
breaths inhaling for four counts, holding for four counts,
exhaling for four, repeat thisfor one or two minutes.
You can do this while your kidsare in the classroom working on
something.
You can do this while your kidsare at lunch and you're just
like I just need to breathe, butreally being able to manage and
(10:05):
take control and focus on ourbreathing.
And the third step is tovisualize calm.
Close your eyes and picture aplace and listen.
Don't close your eyes right now, while you're driving or while
you're listening to this, unlessyou're at home or somewhere
quiet.
Then close your eyes and what Iwould encourage you to do is
picture a place or moment thatmakes you feel peaceful.
(10:26):
Maybe it's a beach, maybe it'son the couch snuggled up with
your family, maybe it's yourquiet morning with your coffee,
or maybe it's just a favoritememory.
A quick reset and visualizingcalm.
It helps calm your nervoussystem, it helps clear your mind
and it gives you a moment torecharge before diving back in
to whatever task you are workingon.
(10:49):
When you are overwhelmed, fiveminutes can really just make a
difference.
Step away, take a deep breathand give yourself permission to
reset.
You don't have to do it all atonce.
Whatever it is in life, you donot have to do it all at once.
An actionable step that I wantto give you because, as I always
(11:12):
say, I'm trying to give youactionable things that you can
take and do not just like, hey,listen to this guy talk.
But what actions can you take?
I want you to schedule onefive-minute reset into your day
this week, whether it's betweenclass, during your lunch, after
school.
I want you to actually put thisright now, if you're not
driving, put this into yourphone as a time where it is
(11:35):
scheduled out, where you addthat five minutes to reset and
give yourself permission topause.
Reset and give yourselfpermission to pause.
I want to really thank you, as Ialways, it's an honor for
people, whether it's two peoplelistening or 200 or 2,000 people
listening.
I just always want to thank youfor really spending.
(11:58):
You're spending time with me.
Although it's virtual, we arestill spending time together.
So thank you, thank you, thankyou for tuning in, for spending
this time with me.
If you have not, I always askplease like, please subscribe,
please tell a friend.
If there's something here thathelped you, please share it with
someone else.
And I want you to remember thatwhen you take care of yourself
(12:19):
and you take care of thosearound you, you are building a
stronger and more connectedschool community.
I want to encourage you to keepbelieving in your students,
keep believing in yourcolleagues and, most importantly
, keep believing in yourself.
Until next time, stay inspired,stay connected and keep growing
(12:40):
.
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