Unlock the secrets behind the fascinating world of teaching through the lens of their partners. This episode promises to enlighten you on how the partners of educators interpret the job satisfaction of their significant others. We highlight the intriguing dichotomy between those who perceive their partners as content and those who notice neutrality or dissatisfaction. Explore how subtle signs like stress levels and health play a role and gain insights into the joys and humorous moments that bring fulfillment to a teacher's day. We also encourage teachers and their partners to engage in open discussions about workplace happiness, fostering a deeper understanding and connection.
Peek into the life of a teacher’s partner as we dissect the emotional and time commitments that often accompany the role. Learn practical strategies for providing the essential support teachers need, from assisting with household chores to becoming active participants in school activities. We emphasize the importance of appreciation for teachers’ efforts while advocating for better working conditions, reminding them that their career is crucial yet not all-encompassing. Join us as we offer encouragement for teachers to seek support from their partners and colleagues, ensuring a healthy balance between their professional and personal lives.
Buy The Minimalist Teacher book from ASCD+ISTE.
Follow on Instagram @PlanZEducation and @minimalist_ed_podcast.
The Minimalist Educator Podcast is a Plan Z Education Services adventure.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Welcome to the Minimalist Educator Podcast.
A podcast about paring down torefocus on the purpose and
priorities in our roles withco-hosts and co-authors of the
Minimalist Educator Podcast.
A podcast about paring down torefocus on the purpose and
priorities in our roles withco-hosts and co-authors of the
Minimalist Teacher Book, tammyMusialski-Bornemann and
Christine Arnold.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Welcome back everyone to the Minimalist Educator
Podcast.
I'm Christine Arnold and todaywe're continuing our discussion
on that fascinating survey westarted last week.
If you missed part one, don'tworry, we can always go back and
catch up after this episode.
In the first half of thediscussion, we broke down part
one of a survey responded to bythe partners of teachers.
(00:57):
We also discussed the keyresults and trends that stood
out from the first half of thesurvey.
But before we dive into parttwo, just a quick recap for
those joining us for the firsttime.
This survey was conducted with asmall number of participants
and covered a range of topics,from how often teachers bring
work home to the impact of ourwork on our health.
(01:19):
The goal of this survey Tounderstand how our work in
education is viewed by oursignificant others.
So let's get into it.
This episode goes into moreresponses to our survey
questions and also links back tosome of the findings we found
in part one.
Thanks for tuning in to thispart two discussion.
(01:40):
If you found any of theseinsights helpful, please
subscribe, leave a review andshare it with someone who also
loves digging into the data.
So the next question was how doyou perceive your partner's
overall job satisfaction?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Okay, Overall, job satisfaction is somewhat high,
like maybe 70%, unfortunately,no, okay, so that's good, though
(02:23):
, because then people arerecognizing that it's not okay
to feel this way, and I'm notsatisfied.
You know what I mean.
Like cause some people willoverlook like, yeah, there's,
I'm tired every day, I don'thave energy for anything,
there's all these things that wehave to do.
We have this other new thingcoming in yeah, I'm okay with it
(02:46):
.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Like that's not okay although, again, this is not
teacher's self-reporting.
Yes, so right, that could stillbe an issue.
This is the partners, theirpoint of perception.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
this is true, so, but okay, so then I think this
should be oh, hmm, yeah.
So I'm wondering then ifpartners hear more negative
things, their interpretation isthat their partner is not
(03:21):
satisfied.
But if teachers were, oh man,yeah, I, I don't know, this is a
tricky one, so so it is highthen no, it's pretty, it's
pretty straight down the line.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Actually.
We've got 15 okay, 15, 50satisfied or very satisfied, and
50 either neutral ordissatisfied, with zero percent
reporting very dissatisfied sowe've got a straight split
between neutral, dissatisfiedand then people who are happy.
So yeah, I think but as you, asyou were just thinking out loud
(04:01):
there, I think a lot of thatmade sense like, if we're not
reporting these remote rewardingexperiences and these happy
moments, then they are going tohave a different perception of
what's going on.
If they're seeing us catchingcolds and flus all the time,
that's going to impact how theythink we're feeling about our
(04:24):
job.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Yeah, that's right, very true, Because I do wonder,
like, how often do you ask yourpartner or does one in general,
are you happy at your job or areyou satisfied at your job?
So, like that direct questionmight not ever really get asked,
but we get all of the indirectinformation right.
(04:50):
Like the illness or the habitcreation, or like the funny
stories or not funny stories.
But I like it's a good questionto ask for sure.
And and even on the teacher'spart, how often do you ask
yourself that, like, am I happyat this job?
Yeah, and like and like, evenif you say not really, yeah,
(05:16):
what are you going to do aboutit?
Because it's a lot of work tochange jobs and so, yeah, but
anyway, just kind of back tolike, how often do partners
really talk about that verypointed question Does your job
make you happy?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah, for sure, and I think, as people get really
busy in their lives, especiallyif they have children, like
you're really just, you're justI don't want to say it.
That sounds awful, you're justsurviving the day.
But when I look at friends andfamily that have little kids and
(05:51):
you know big family thatthey're managing, it's almost
like an organization thatthey're managing.
You know it's constantlythinking about they've got to go
there and they need this andthis needs finishing and I've
got to respond to that and I'vegot to get to work and then I've
got to get home and make thelunches and it's like how often
are people stopping toself-reflect on how fulfilled
(06:12):
they're feeling in their work?
I think that's a very goodpoint.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
All right, so we're moving into the part now where
people had space to write theirresponses, okay, okay, so what
I've done?
Because I don't want to readthrough everybody's responses,
so I've just distilled it downinto some commonalities.
Okay, so there were some commonthemes coming out here.
(06:43):
Okay, so the first write yourown answer question was what do
you enjoy most about yourpartner's job?
So what do you think thesignificant others of teachers
enjoy about?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
our work.
I think it's probably the funnystories.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
That's definitely one that came up quite a bit yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Maybe another one.
I don't even know what elsethey enjoy about their partner's
job.
It's just the stories.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
It's just the hilarious stories, that's it.
Oh well, also maybe like thefulfillment that they get from
like teaching yes, okay, yeah,and there was a lot of very
lovely comments about, like, Ilove seeing them so rewarded, so
passionate about what they'redoing, good joy that they have,
(07:36):
um the fact that they're helpingand contributing to society,
that they have such strongrelationships with their
colleagues and their students.
So there was a lot of reallyreally nice comments there that
they love seeing that for theirpartner, which is really nice.
It's not something that theythemselves are enjoying, but
they're so pleased for theirpartner.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Yeah, that's great, I like that.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Another one that came up a few times was that they
can have time off for the family, so time off on the holidays
with the kids, and things likethat.
Yeah, that came up a little bit.
And then I am going to pointout this one comment If it was
you yourself that wrote thiscomment, I'm not having a go or
laughing at you, but it's morefrom a place of curiosity,
(08:23):
because I want to know what'shappening.
So the question was what do youenjoy most about your partner's
job?
And there was one response thatwas just simply one word food.
Oh, I love that.
But it's just got me reallycurious because I'm like is your
partner like a cooking teacher?
(08:44):
Are they bringing home likefood from work?
Or is that like, are theygetting like party bags from the
kids?
Or, uh, are you, are theybringing home food from staff
parties?
Like what is happening?
How are you getting food?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
yeah, yeah, oh, that's like a great perk it just
awesome.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
It just got me so curious.
I'm like where are you, whereare you getting the food?
Anyway, I just wanted tomention that one.
I want to find out more.
Where's, where's the foodcoming from?
Where's the food?
Yes, yes, awesome so the nextwas how has seeing your partner
be a teacher influenced your ownthinking about teaching?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Okay, so I think there was probably some mention
of they see how hard it is, likethey've there's realizations
about all of the things thatteachers have to do and that
(09:51):
teachers don't.
Maybe there isn't enoughsupport in the teaching
profession.
Okay, that might be somethingthat's not really a thought
influence, but maybe a thoughtthat came up.
Maybe that it's not foreveryone okay, okay, some good
(10:16):
guesses there.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
So you were right with the you know, a new
appreciation of of what's goingon.
So it kind of came up into twomain themes.
One was just how emotionallyand mentally draining this
profession was.
That was something new for them.
And then the other one wasabout the amount of workload not
realizing the amount of workthat goes on, with a couple of
(10:40):
people even mentioning that youknow they used to think that you
, that it was a job that you hadshort hours and lots of
holidays, and realizing thatactually, no, that's not the
case.
That's not it at all.
Your holidays and weekends aregone with, with extra work being
done.
Yeah, and then there were acouple of people who talked
about that it changed theirthinking about teaching, in that
(11:03):
they've realized how rewardingit is, with a few people even
commenting that it's made themconsider education for
themselves oh, that's nice.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I mean, we need need people for sure we do.
So come on in.
You know what you're gettingyourself in for for sure.
Right, exactly that's what Iwas just going to say.
You know what's what you'regoing to feel like and what's
some of the things that you'regoing to encounter.
That's really yeah.
(11:36):
So that really just says howmuch they admire their partner,
then, and the work that they do.
So that's yeah, that's reallythoughtful, yeah very cool.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
So the next question was what should people know
about being the partner of theteacher?
Like what's a warning that youshould let people know If you're
going to get together with ateacher.
What do you need to know?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yeah, that their time is going to be absorbed by a
lot of work things, becausebesides planning, there's like
parent-teacher conference nightsand, you know, teacher like
beginning of the yearorientations, parent night,
school events and all of thatkind of thing.
(12:21):
So your time is a little bitmonopolized.
That there will be probablysome tears and lots of sleeping,
hopefully, or maybe not as muchsleeping because of stress and
terrible school dreams those arenot fun, no but also that there
(12:43):
would be some joy from the jobtoo.
So, like the real hard things,but also that sense of like.
You know again that sense oflike.
You know again that fulfillmentof there is a sense of like.
There's a reason why thisperson teaches right.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
so hopefully that came up too yeah, so definitely
there was comments like you needto know that, that they're
going to be tired.
They're going to bring some ofthe emotional work home with
them as well as the actualphysical work.
A lot of people talked aboutlike you're going to need to be
(13:21):
there for your partner.
You need to help, you need tosupport.
One person even talked aboutthe idea of like buying back
time so like doing things aroundthe house to free up the
personal time that the teacherhas when they're home.
Um, which is really nice thatpeople are are really trying to
make that effort to make, yeah,home time a more lovely
(13:46):
experience for the teachers.
Yeah, a lot of people alsotalked about like you are going
to get involved in this school.
You are going to cut out, youare going to laminate, you're
going to be a guest speaker.
Like you are going to be in theclassroom setting up, like get
ready yes, all those things.
Learn how to make a bulletinboard, because it's happening.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Yes yeah, get to know the custodian too, because this
is never good.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
I get to know the people in the building, that's
it uh, and I think my favoritecomment out of all of them was a
another simple one.
You cannot act like a child,and I just thought you know what
that is brilliant.
We cannot deal with a day andcome home and deal with another
child, your partner beinganother child at home as well.
(14:37):
I was like, yes, thank you,thank you.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Yes, oh, my goodness, that says a lot.
Oh yes, not another person totake care of, please?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Exactly, we want to come home to someone mature who
is our partner in all things,absolutely For sure.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
And then our very last question of the survey was
what message would you send toall the teachers?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Oh, you can do it.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Maybe you're appreciated and needed.
Yeah, I feel like that wouldprobably be a main message, like
just the appreciation and theneed for teachers.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Absolutely.
Yeah, you're on it.
You're on it there.
So a big, a big common one thatcame up was reminders about
like this is this is a job.
It's not your life, like you'renot going to on your deathbed,
you're not going to want to havemore time at work.
You have family and friendsthat love you and need you, like
let's put this in perspective.
(15:59):
So that was that was a big uh,that's a good one one that came
up and then, yeah, a lot of youare appreciated.
Thank you, you're doing a greatjob.
The world needs you.
A lot of comments like that.
And then we had quite a fewpeople talking about like you
deserve better, you deserve to.
About like you deserve better,you deserve to be paid more, you
deserve better workingconditions, you need smaller
(16:21):
class sizes, more support, like.
There was a lot of that comingup as well.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Yeah, I mean all true statements.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah for sure.
And the quote that I'll sharewith you from that section was
you are near the status of asaint.
I applaud you oh my goodness,seriously, though, absolutely
yeah, I just, I just think it'sa real, it's a real clear sign
(16:52):
that they see us.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
They see us, they see what we're going through, they
see what we're doing, theyrecognize it yeah, there is
appreciation and support and,yeah, that recognition that it's
a hard job and it can beconsuming, but with support of
(17:15):
your people it's, it can be moremanageable.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, absolutely yeah , yeah, so that is the end of
the survey responses.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
I'm hoping it wasn't all doom and gloom for you,
tammy it wasn't, and there wasdefinitely some know some
pleasant sort of surprises andsome definite not surprises, but
I do really appreciate thatpeople took the time to answer
the survey and just with thehonesty, especially in those
(17:48):
last few questions, with wherethey could write in a response,
and it's.
It's really enlightening andendearing to hear their thoughts
about what their partner does.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
so, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely glad we did it would
.
Maybe we'll have to do afollow-up survey again sometime
in the future yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
I think that I hope that our listeners took away
some you know, just some joyfrom that episode and some,
maybe you know, not reframingthinking, but just talk to your
partner about these kinds ofthings too.
Like if, if it seems likeyou're coming home always
(18:36):
feeling very negative, like,share a funny story If you can
find one from your day, there'salways going to be something you
know something like.
So yeah, cause it can feel hardand and we can get pulled down.
So remember that you know yourpartner's there for you to
support you and don't be afraidto ask for help, even outside of
(18:59):
your home partner right, likethere are millions of teachers.
You can always reach out tosomebody when you know you feel
like it's feeling negative andyou need to be pulled up, or you
know whatever it is.
But, like this is just really.
I think this was a good way toget some insight into those of
(19:20):
us that who are there to supportus.
But yeah, we're all in ittogether and so, you know, find
your people.
And so, even if you are aneducator listening and you don't
have a partner in your life, itdoesn't matter.
You have people there tosupport you as well.
You've got your colleagues andyour friends and you know we're
all.
We're all in this same giganticscary boat with some holes in
(19:45):
it.
Sorry, that was terrible.
That was terrible, but we allhave flotation devices oh, okay,
good, I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
yeah, I'm glad yeah for sure.
And I think the big takeawayfor me is like just that
reminder of they want us to feelgood and they want us to be
enjoying our lives and havespace for them as well.
So I think that's a really goodreminder for all of us.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Yeah, thank you, christine, for making this a
surprise for me.
This was a fun episode to do,actually to just like go into it
without knowing what responseswere going to be, so that was a
fun change in our share it was,but I also enjoyed preparing the
surprise for you, so I'm gladit worked out for both of us.
(20:35):
Yeah that's awesome.
All right listeners, thanks forjoining us today and we will be
back with you again next timewith another episode of the
Minimalist Educator Podcast.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Today's episode was brought to you by plan z
professional learning servicesforward thinking educator
support.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
find out more at plan z pl servicescom be sure to
join tammy and christine andguests for more episodes of the
minimalist educator podcast.
They would love to hear aboutyour journey with minimalism.
Connect with them at PlanZPLSon Twitter or Instagram.
The music for the podcast hasbeen written and performed by
(21:21):
Gaia Moretti.
Thank you.
Welcome to the Minimalist Educator Podcast.
A podcast about paring down torefocus on the purpose and
priorities in our roles withco-hosts and co-authors of the
Minimalist Educator Podcast.
A podcast about paring down torefocus on the purpose and
priorities in our roles withco-hosts and co-authors of the
Minimalist Teacher Book, tammyMusialski-Bornemann and
Christine Arnold.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Welcome back everyone to the Minimalist Educator
Podcast.
I'm Christine Arnold and todaywe're continuing our discussion
on that fascinating survey westarted last week.
If you missed part one, don'tworry, we can always go back and
catch up after this episode.
In the first half of thediscussion, we broke down part
one of a survey responded to bythe partners of teachers.
(00:57):
We also discussed the keyresults and trends that stood
out from the first half of thesurvey.
But before we dive into parttwo, just a quick recap for
those joining us for the firsttime.
This survey was conducted with asmall number of participants
and covered a range of topics,from how often teachers bring
work home to the impact of ourwork on our health.
(01:19):
The goal of this survey Tounderstand how our work in
education is viewed by oursignificant others.
So let's get into it.
This episode goes into moreresponses to our survey
questions and also links back tosome of the findings we found
in part one.
Thanks for tuning in to thispart two discussion.
(01:40):
If you found any of theseinsights helpful, please
subscribe, leave a review andshare it with someone who also
loves digging into the data.
So the next question was how doyou perceive your partner's
overall job satisfaction?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Okay, Overall, job satisfaction is somewhat high,
like maybe 70%, unfortunately,no, okay, so that's good, though
(02:23):
, because then people arerecognizing that it's not okay
to feel this way, and I'm notsatisfied.
You know what I mean.
Like cause some people willoverlook like, yeah, there's,
I'm tired every day, I don'thave energy for anything,
there's all these things that wehave to do.
We have this other new thingcoming in yeah, I'm okay with it
(02:46):
.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Like that's not okay although, again, this is not
teacher's self-reporting.
Yes, so right, that could stillbe an issue.
This is the partners, theirpoint of perception.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
this is true, so, but okay, so then I think this
should be oh, hmm, yeah.
So I'm wondering then ifpartners hear more negative
things, their interpretation isthat their partner is not
(03:21):
satisfied.
But if teachers were, oh man,yeah, I, I don't know, this is a
tricky one, so so it is highthen no, it's pretty, it's
pretty straight down the line.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Actually.
We've got 15 okay, 15, 50satisfied or very satisfied, and
50 either neutral ordissatisfied, with zero percent
reporting very dissatisfied sowe've got a straight split
between neutral, dissatisfiedand then people who are happy.
So yeah, I think but as you, asyou were just thinking out loud
(04:01):
there, I think a lot of thatmade sense like, if we're not
reporting these remote rewardingexperiences and these happy
moments, then they are going tohave a different perception of
what's going on.
If they're seeing us catchingcolds and flus all the time,
that's going to impact how theythink we're feeling about our
(04:24):
job.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Yeah, that's right, very true, Because I do wonder,
like, how often do you ask yourpartner or does one in general,
are you happy at your job or areyou satisfied at your job?
So, like that direct questionmight not ever really get asked,
but we get all of the indirectinformation right.
(04:50):
Like the illness or the habitcreation, or like the funny
stories or not funny stories.
But I like it's a good questionto ask for sure.
And and even on the teacher'spart, how often do you ask
yourself that, like, am I happyat this job?
Yeah, and like and like, evenif you say not really, yeah,
(05:16):
what are you going to do aboutit?
Because it's a lot of work tochange jobs and so, yeah, but
anyway, just kind of back tolike, how often do partners
really talk about that verypointed question Does your job
make you happy?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah, for sure, and I think, as people get really
busy in their lives, especiallyif they have children, like
you're really just, you're justI don't want to say it.
That sounds awful, you're justsurviving the day.
But when I look at friends andfamily that have little kids and
(05:51):
you know big family thatthey're managing, it's almost
like an organization thatthey're managing.
You know it's constantlythinking about they've got to go
there and they need this andthis needs finishing and I've
got to respond to that and I'vegot to get to work and then I've
got to get home and make thelunches and it's like how often
are people stopping toself-reflect on how fulfilled
(06:12):
they're feeling in their work?
I think that's a very goodpoint.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
All right, so we're moving into the part now where
people had space to write theirresponses, okay, okay, so what
I've done?
Because I don't want to readthrough everybody's responses,
so I've just distilled it downinto some commonalities.
Okay, so there were some commonthemes coming out here.
(06:43):
Okay, so the first write yourown answer question was what do
you enjoy most about yourpartner's job?
So what do you think thesignificant others of teachers
enjoy about?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
our work.
I think it's probably the funnystories.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
That's definitely one that came up quite a bit yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Maybe another one.
I don't even know what elsethey enjoy about their partner's
job.
It's just the stories.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
It's just the hilarious stories, that's it.
Oh well, also maybe like thefulfillment that they get from
like teaching yes, okay, yeah,and there was a lot of very
lovely comments about, like, Ilove seeing them so rewarded, so
passionate about what they'redoing, good joy that they have,
(07:36):
um the fact that they're helpingand contributing to society,
that they have such strongrelationships with their
colleagues and their students.
So there was a lot of reallyreally nice comments there that
they love seeing that for theirpartner, which is really nice.
It's not something that theythemselves are enjoying, but
they're so pleased for theirpartner.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Yeah, that's great, I like that.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Another one that came up a few times was that they
can have time off for the family, so time off on the holidays
with the kids, and things likethat.
Yeah, that came up a little bit.
And then I am going to pointout this one comment If it was
you yourself that wrote thiscomment, I'm not having a go or
laughing at you, but it's morefrom a place of curiosity,
(08:23):
because I want to know what'shappening.
So the question was what do youenjoy most about your partner's
job?
And there was one response thatwas just simply one word food.
Oh, I love that.
But it's just got me reallycurious because I'm like is your
partner like a cooking teacher?
(08:44):
Are they bringing home likefood from work?
Or is that like, are theygetting like party bags from the
kids?
Or, uh, are you, are theybringing home food from staff
parties?
Like what is happening?
How are you getting food?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
yeah, yeah, oh, that's like a great perk it just
awesome.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
It just got me so curious.
I'm like where are you, whereare you getting the food?
Anyway, I just wanted tomention that one.
I want to find out more.
Where's, where's the foodcoming from?
Where's the food?
Yes, yes, awesome so the nextwas how has seeing your partner
be a teacher influenced your ownthinking about teaching?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Okay, so I think there was probably some mention
of they see how hard it is, likethey've there's realizations
about all of the things thatteachers have to do and that
(09:51):
teachers don't.
Maybe there isn't enoughsupport in the teaching
profession.
Okay, that might be somethingthat's not really a thought
influence, but maybe a thoughtthat came up.
Maybe that it's not foreveryone okay, okay, some good
(10:16):
guesses there.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
So you were right with the you know, a new
appreciation of of what's goingon.
So it kind of came up into twomain themes.
One was just how emotionallyand mentally draining this
profession was.
That was something new for them.
And then the other one wasabout the amount of workload not
realizing the amount of workthat goes on, with a couple of
(10:40):
people even mentioning that youknow they used to think that you
, that it was a job that you hadshort hours and lots of
holidays, and realizing thatactually, no, that's not the
case.
That's not it at all.
Your holidays and weekends aregone with, with extra work being
done.
Yeah, and then there were acouple of people who talked
about that it changed theirthinking about teaching, in that
(11:03):
they've realized how rewardingit is, with a few people even
commenting that it's made themconsider education for
themselves oh, that's nice.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I mean, we need need people for sure we do.
So come on in.
You know what you're gettingyourself in for for sure.
Right, exactly that's what Iwas just going to say.
You know what's what you'regoing to feel like and what's
some of the things that you'regoing to encounter.
That's really yeah.
(11:36):
So that really just says howmuch they admire their partner,
then, and the work that they do.
So that's yeah, that's reallythoughtful, yeah very cool.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
So the next question was what should people know
about being the partner of theteacher?
Like what's a warning that youshould let people know If you're
going to get together with ateacher.
What do you need to know?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yeah, that their time is going to be absorbed by a
lot of work things, becausebesides planning, there's like
parent-teacher conference nightsand, you know, teacher like
beginning of the yearorientations, parent night,
school events and all of thatkind of thing.
(12:21):
So your time is a little bitmonopolized.
That there will be probablysome tears and lots of sleeping,
hopefully, or maybe not as muchsleeping because of stress and
terrible school dreams those arenot fun, no but also that there
(12:43):
would be some joy from the jobtoo.
So, like the real hard things,but also that sense of like.
You know again that sense oflike.
You know again that fulfillmentof there is a sense of like.
There's a reason why thisperson teaches right.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
so hopefully that came up too yeah, so definitely
there was comments like you needto know that, that they're
going to be tired.
They're going to bring some ofthe emotional work home with
them as well as the actualphysical work.
A lot of people talked aboutlike you're going to need to be
(13:21):
there for your partner.
You need to help, you need tosupport.
One person even talked aboutthe idea of like buying back
time so like doing things aroundthe house to free up the
personal time that the teacherhas when they're home.
Um, which is really nice thatpeople are are really trying to
make that effort to make, yeah,home time a more lovely
(13:46):
experience for the teachers.
Yeah, a lot of people alsotalked about like you are going
to get involved in this school.
You are going to cut out, youare going to laminate, you're
going to be a guest speaker.
Like you are going to be in theclassroom setting up, like get
ready yes, all those things.
Learn how to make a bulletinboard, because it's happening.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Yes yeah, get to know the custodian too, because this
is never good.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
I get to know the people in the building, that's
it uh, and I think my favoritecomment out of all of them was a
another simple one.
You cannot act like a child,and I just thought you know what
that is brilliant.
We cannot deal with a day andcome home and deal with another
child, your partner beinganother child at home as well.
(14:37):
I was like, yes, thank you,thank you.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Yes, oh, my goodness, that says a lot.
Oh yes, not another person totake care of, please?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Exactly, we want to come home to someone mature who
is our partner in all things,absolutely For sure.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
And then our very last question of the survey was
what message would you send toall the teachers?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Oh, you can do it.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Maybe you're appreciated and needed.
Yeah, I feel like that wouldprobably be a main message, like
just the appreciation and theneed for teachers.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Absolutely.
Yeah, you're on it.
You're on it there.
So a big, a big common one thatcame up was reminders about
like this is this is a job.
It's not your life, like you'renot going to on your deathbed,
you're not going to want to havemore time at work.
You have family and friendsthat love you and need you, like
let's put this in perspective.
(15:59):
So that was that was a big uh,that's a good one one that came
up and then, yeah, a lot of youare appreciated.
Thank you, you're doing a greatjob.
The world needs you.
A lot of comments like that.
And then we had quite a fewpeople talking about like you
deserve better, you deserve to.
About like you deserve better,you deserve to be paid more, you
deserve better workingconditions, you need smaller
(16:21):
class sizes, more support, like.
There was a lot of that comingup as well.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Yeah, I mean all true statements.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah for sure.
And the quote that I'll sharewith you from that section was
you are near the status of asaint.
I applaud you oh my goodness,seriously, though, absolutely
yeah, I just, I just think it'sa real, it's a real clear sign
(16:52):
that they see us.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
They see us, they see what we're going through, they
see what we're doing, theyrecognize it yeah, there is
appreciation and support and,yeah, that recognition that it's
a hard job and it can beconsuming, but with support of
(17:15):
your people it's, it can be moremanageable.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, absolutely yeah , yeah, so that is the end of
the survey responses.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
I'm hoping it wasn't all doom and gloom for you,
tammy it wasn't, and there wasdefinitely some know some
pleasant sort of surprises andsome definite not surprises, but
I do really appreciate thatpeople took the time to answer
the survey and just with thehonesty, especially in those
(17:48):
last few questions, with wherethey could write in a response,
and it's.
It's really enlightening andendearing to hear their thoughts
about what their partner does.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
so, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely glad we did it would
.
Maybe we'll have to do afollow-up survey again sometime
in the future yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
I think that I hope that our listeners took away
some you know, just some joyfrom that episode and some,
maybe you know, not reframingthinking, but just talk to your
partner about these kinds ofthings too.
Like if, if it seems likeyou're coming home always
(18:36):
feeling very negative, like,share a funny story If you can
find one from your day, there'salways going to be something you
know something like.
So yeah, cause it can feel hardand and we can get pulled down.
So remember that you know yourpartner's there for you to
support you and don't be afraidto ask for help, even outside of
(18:59):
your home partner right, likethere are millions of teachers.
You can always reach out tosomebody when you know you feel
like it's feeling negative andyou need to be pulled up, or you
know whatever it is.
But, like this is just really.
I think this was a good way toget some insight into those of
(19:20):
us that who are there to supportus.
But yeah, we're all in ittogether and so, you know, find
your people.
And so, even if you are aneducator listening and you don't
have a partner in your life, itdoesn't matter.
You have people there tosupport you as well.
You've got your colleagues andyour friends and you know we're
all.
We're all in this same giganticscary boat with some holes in
(19:45):
it.
Sorry, that was terrible.
That was terrible, but we allhave flotation devices oh, okay,
good, I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
yeah, I'm glad yeah for sure.
And I think the big takeawayfor me is like just that
reminder of they want us to feelgood and they want us to be
enjoying our lives and havespace for them as well.
So I think that's a really goodreminder for all of us.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Yeah, thank you, christine, for making this a
surprise for me.
This was a fun episode to do,actually to just like go into it
without knowing what responseswere going to be, so that was a
fun change in our share it was,but I also enjoyed preparing the
surprise for you, so I'm gladit worked out for both of us.
(20:35):
Yeah that's awesome.
All right listeners, thanks forjoining us today and we will be
back with you again next timewith another episode of the
Minimalist Educator Podcast.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Today's episode was brought to you by plan z
professional learning servicesforward thinking educator
support.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
find out more at plan z pl servicescom be sure to
join tammy and christine andguests for more episodes of the
minimalist educator podcast.
They would love to hear aboutyour journey with minimalism.
Connect with them at PlanZPLSon Twitter or Instagram.
The music for the podcast hasbeen written and performed by
(21:21):
Gaia Moretti.
Thank you.
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