May 20, 2025 • 32 mins
Have you ever wished you could send a message back in time to your beginning-of-year self? That's exactly what we explore in this reflective episode as another school year draws to a close.
The transition between academic years often happens at breakneck speed, with little time to acknowledge how much we've grown and changed. Tammy and I share the letters we would write to our September selves, capturing the wisdom gained through challenges, surprises, and victories along the way.
Through honest conversation, we unpack key lessons that emerged this year. Tammy reflects on her coaching experiences and the feedback from teachers who've gained confidence and consistency in their practice. She wishes she had created better systems to implement the valuable professional learning she experienced throughout the year. Meanwhile, I share how I entered the year knowing I faced numerous major responsibilities, including school accreditation, and how I learned that "I can handle this" was the message I needed most.
Our discussion reveals how flexibility became a survival skill, especially when unexpected situations hijacked carefully planned agendas. We talk about the value of collegial relationships and how schools that prioritize teacher collaboration time see significant benefits in staff morale and effectiveness. We also touch on how certain episodes, particularly our "Partners of Educators" two-parter, resonated deeply with listeners.
The episode concludes with pare-down pointers that encapsulate our reflections: "Go gently with yourself" and "Keep it simple." These reminders to practice self-compassion and avoid overcomplicating future challenges offer valuable perspective for educators wrapping up their own school years.
Whether you're ending your school year now or have a few weeks remaining, we hope this episode encourages you to pause and reflect on your own journey. What would you tell your September self? What lessons will you carry forward? Connect with us @PlanZPLS on Instagram – we'd love to hear your reflections.
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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Transcript
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 Teacher Book, TammyMusiewski-Borneman and Christine
Arnold.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Minimalist
Educator Podcast.
Thank you for joining us forone of our final episodes of
season four.
As another school year wraps up, we wanted to take a moment to
slow down and reflect.
It's so easy to jump straightinto the next thing, but
reflection is a powerfulpractice.
It helps us notice what we'velearned, how we've changed and
(00:57):
what we want to carry forward.
So in this episode, we'resharing something just a little
bit different.
We are sharing letters,thoughts, reflections for our
past selves, back at the startof the year in September.
It's our way of looking back atwhere we started and what the
year has taught us.
We've tried to be honest andpersonal and hopefully it
encourages you to do the samething.
(01:19):
Give yourself some credit forwhat you've been making it
through this year.
Let's get into it.
Hello everyone and welcome totoday's episode of the
Minimalist Educator podcast.
I am here with Tammy.
How are you today, tammy?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I'm doing pretty well .
Speaker 2 (01:41):
How are you, christine?
I am good, I'm very well.
How are you, christine?
I am good, I'm very well.
The sun is shining as we gettowards closer and closer to
summer holidays.
So, yes, I'm getting excitedabout the change in weather.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yes, for sure, that time of year where schools and
teachers are starting to winddown in some places, with
schools closing for the summerat the end of May.
I know you go a little bitlonger because you start later
in the year, but it's still winddown time and you know know all
(02:23):
the things are happening rightnow.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
It feels like exactly , exactly, which brings us to
our theme for today, our topictoday.
Tammy, we are almost doing likea letter to our past selves.
Dear september me, what wouldwe say to ourselves at the start
of this academic year that'sjust about to end?
(02:47):
What would be the message thatwe would send ourselves?
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Well, I think, before we can do that, I kind of feel
like we have to go through theroller coaster that the year has
been, because we definitely arenot the same people we were a
bunch of months ago.
You know, similar but not quitethe same.
There's been some good thingsthat have happened.
(03:13):
We've had some goodinteractions with people
teachers and students, um, andfrom those interactions we
discover things about ourselvesand others, and so I think it's
interesting that we're talkingabout this, because this is one
of the things I ask teachers atthis point in the year as we're
(03:34):
doing year-end meetings.
So, you know, I ask them likegive me some highlights from the
year.
You know what are you proud of?
Give me some highlights fromthe year you know what are you
proud of?
Because you're not the sameperson you were when you started
this year.
You've, you know, had somegrowth with students, but also
professional growth, and it'spretty interesting and really
(03:59):
cool to hear what teachers'responses are.
So I think that if I'm lookingat you know people that I've
worked with this year I'm notgoing to talk about myself yet,
but some of the things thatteachers are saying that you
know this is this was not meseveral months ago was, um, you
(04:23):
know, like I'm really proud ofmyself and the confidence I've
built as a teacher over thisyear and I thought, you know, I
had a couple of teachers saythat and I'm like that's like
really great for you to feel asense, a better sense of like
how you're teaching and whatyou're teaching.
(04:44):
So that for me was actually ahighlight, just having worked
with a bunch of, you know, thesesame teachers.
This year.
I had another teacher say thatshe was really proud of how
consistent she was with buildingin time for students to talk to
each other this year too.
(05:05):
So I thought that was a reallygood, you know, practical type
of thing where at the start ofthe year maybe that wasn't a
focus for instruction but becamea really strong point of
teaching throughout the year.
So I thought those were some,some cool reflections from
(05:26):
teachers that I heard that aretop of mind for me right now.
What's coming up for you?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Well, it's funny that you say you're having those
conversations, because after ourmost recent vacation break
holiday break, whatever you wantto call it I was talking to the
teams about what their winshave been for the year so far,
and it was just so lovely to seehow many of the teams were
(05:52):
talking about a win for them hadbeen the teamwork and the
collaboration that they've hadwith other staff members.
Which I think brings us back tothat idea that we always keep
coming back to on this podcastis the importance of
relationships, and that is justsuch a huge part of what we do,
(06:13):
and so I feel like that was agood reminder of that that when
you can feel that that is a winfor you, you feel like you've
had a great year when thosecollegial relationships are
going well.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
So, um, yes, I've also been having those
conversations yeah, I wastalking to some teachers this
week at well.
I was at two schools wrappingup with them and one school does
have that time for thatcollaboration and building their
relationships together.
The other really doesn't.
(06:49):
And I was thinking how thatreally played a role in staff
morale this year because didn'treally have that together time
unless I was with them for a PDand so it was really great to
work with them, with, you know,during some of their PD times,
(07:11):
because a lot of their meetingtime had just different focus
points, right, because they're,you know, looking at some you
know, just different schoolaspects where it doesn't didn't
require necessarily them tocollaborate together, but it was
like information disseminationor you know things like that.
(07:34):
That doesn't really necessarilybuild relationships because
you're just gatheringinformation.
But when we were togetherduring PD times I could see how
much they enjoyed that becausethey were engaged in what we
were doing and questions werebeing asked and there was lots
of interaction.
And so I think, as like aSeptember dear September, me as
(08:04):
a coach, I would probablyadvocate more for teachers to
have that time in some way, eventhough it's been a conversation
, you know, at different pointsthroughout the year with
administrators.
But I think I might have beenlike stronger with that, like
(08:24):
people need to share their ideas, they need to be able to just
have these different kinds ofinteractions between each other
and and talk about the successesthey're having with students
based on you know cause.
A lot of teachers did sharewith me that they did try out
some of the things that wetalked about, whether it was
(08:45):
station teaching or justdifferent discussion protocols
for students, and I saw those inaction and they went really
well.
But they don't get a chance toshare what they tried out,
necessarily, unless it'sinformal, you know in the hall
or something.
But we know that when we getthat chance to have some kind of
(09:07):
a structure for ourselves asadults in a professional
learning like community um or apd session, it builds morale, it
makes people feel like oh yeah,that was a really great idea
that you had.
I'm going to try that in myclassroom and so I think it
would be something that I wouldadvocate for more for teachers
(09:29):
to have.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, so important.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, what else is coming up for you?
Because I know that you had alot going on in your role.
You had accreditation this year, so you were preparing for that
.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah, yeah yeah, that's definitely what I'm
thinking about when I think backto September me.
I was very much aware, goinginto this academic year, that
that I was going to have a loton my plate.
I was very, very conscious ofthat and, you know, as life goes
, even more came up as we gotinto the year as well.
(10:09):
So, yeah, so I mean yeah, at atschool, yeah, I was leading us
into this big new project andyou know we've had our podcast
as to keep going as well.
As you know, another bigproject that I won't talk about
much now, but we'll we'll tellyou all about it soon.
Um, you know, and then stuffgoing on in my personal life as
(10:32):
well that required time andeffort and attention as well.
So I knew before the school yearhad even started that that this
school year was going to be bemassive, um, and so I think, if
I'm looking back at September me, I would just say you know,
you've, you've got this, you cando it, and I think I was trying
(10:55):
to have that self-talk at thetime.
But you know, there's alwaysthat little bit of doubt, that
little seed of like no, youcannot do all of this at the
same time.
Or you know, or you might beable to do it, but you might go
crazy in the attempt to do it.
So I think that message of youcan actually handle this.
(11:15):
You can do this.
I think that would be a hugeone, a huge little encouragement
that I would love to send backin time to September May for
sure would love to send back intime to September, May, for sure
.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, and having worked with you this year on the
podcast and our and our otherproject, um, I've seen the
variations of you which you know.
Sometimes it was like, yeah,it's, it is what it is, we're
moving along.
Sometimes it was not so great.
But, it's good to like thinkback that yeah, of course you're
(11:53):
going to be able to handle it.
It's going to be hard, andthinking to your future self
next year is going to be totallydifferent, because a lot of
things are off your plate.
So I mean, some things arestarting to come off the plate
now, which is great.
As you wind down the year too,um, you know that's a really
(12:13):
good reflection, cause I know ithas been.
It's been a year for you forsure.
Still, standing.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
I'm still standing.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
You are, you are and you're still sane and and
functioning.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Let's hope so.
Let's hope so yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
I'm thinking about, too, some of the professional
learning that I did for myselfthis year, this year, and I was
fortunate to be able to go to afew coaching trainings which I
(12:55):
found to be really helpful.
So I went to a transformationalcoaching training.
I went to the art of coachingteams, coaching for equity, and
those are all from Alina Aguilar, so if you're a coach, you
might be familiar with her workand, as I think back to that, I
(13:17):
really valued the consistentapproach in those learning
experiences for myself and Igrabbed certain things from
there and built into my own work, so like team meetings,
structures and questions that Iused and things like that.
But I would probably tell mySeptember self to capture that
(13:43):
learning in a way that is gonnahelp me sustain it and use it
throughout the whole year.
So, even though you know I havethe learning guides and my
notes and the books and thingslike that I needed at this point
in the year, and not that Icouldn't go back to things, but
(14:04):
I feel like I needed a differentway to ensure that I was using
some of those really goodquestions that I was like, oh, I
want to use that or oh, I wantto try this experience to like
get teachers to think aboutthings in a different way.
And as the years gone on, Ifeel like I mean I use the
(14:25):
questions with teachers or likeask the questions that I felt
like made sense at the time,right.
But I'm wondering too, howcould I have dug a little deeper
with teachers if I had justcaptured a little bit more from
my own learning and was able tobring it Because some of that
(14:46):
first training was in September.
Bring it because some of thethat first training was in
September.
That was beginning of theschool year.
And so you know, just makingsure I'm kind of still sticking
with those things that I'velearned and because there's some
like really great activitiesand questions.
But when I think about this,this last bit of time and doing
wrap up meetings with coaches orwith teachers, I'm like, oh,
(15:08):
that could have been better, youknow, because I feel like when
I started the year I wasstronger because I had that was
like just fresher for me.
So, you know, next year's a newschool year.
I still have a bit morecoaching for the rest of this
school year.
Interestingly.
I still have a bit morecoaching for the rest of this
school year, interestingly, eventhough we're wrapping up.
(15:30):
But, yeah, something to thinkabout for sure, just like my own
learning journey.
Capturing and implementationfor a longer period of time yeah
, if you have ideas for that,that'd be great.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
It's tricky, isn't it ?
Because it's one of those thingswhen you do courses or webinars
or read a book is you have todo something with it, or else it
just kind of it fades, itdisappears, so.
So you do like you get somotivated and excited while
you're doing the thing orreading the thing, um, but
(16:07):
actually transferring it andapplying it and keeping it front
of mind is, I think it's anongoing.
It's an ongoing challenge.
And I try and remember I workedwith with wonderful teacher
years ago and she used to say,like if she did a PD day or a
course, if I just get one thingout of this, I'm happy.
If I can just apply one newthing, I'm happy.
(16:29):
And so I try and remember that,you know, because you know, in
the course of a day or a two-daycourse, there's so many ideas,
there's so many new thinking andnew approaches that you can do
yeah and yeah, like you get.
Sometimes you're like, oh, it'sa shame that I've kind of
forgotten that or missed that,but as long as you've got like
(16:52):
that one thing that you can tryand start putting into your
repertoire of tools andstrategies, I think that's good.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yes, thank you for making me feel better about
myself.
I'm glad I'm here, for that.
That is true, you know there'sdefinitely some questions that
I've kept.
But like that's the trickything with books too, right, and
if I'm traveling to do coachingI can't bring like all the
books with me.
But you know what I can liketake pictures of some pages
(17:24):
maybe, and put it in a digitalfolder and refer back to,
because I mean I have some stuffwritten and whatever, but it's
just good to revisit those,those pieces that I'm like yeah,
that was really good and Iforgot to keep doing that or
keep asking that or you know,but yeah, it's such a good point
(17:48):
.
Just one thing and you knowthat's usually what I ask
teachers what's just one thingthat you're grabbing from our
coaching this year that likestuck with you, like hello,
apply that to myself.
You just have higherexpectations for yourself,
obviously yeah, so it's funny,but anything else you would tell
(18:09):
your September self or teachersthat you work with this year.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I yeah, I think, a huge learning thing for me.
It might sound really basic andsimple, but just being flexible
and adaptable.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Because this year, more than any other year, I feel
like things have come up thatneed to be dealt with or
addressed or supported, thathave completely hijacked for
lack of a better word what I hadon my agenda.
You know, and so I've talked alot about you know, imagining
(18:53):
your top three priorities forthe day or imagining what done
feels like for the day, and youknow the strategies definitely
are something that I try and doall the time at work.
But when you have a day wherethings come up and you cannot do
what you thought you needed todo or you wanted to get done, if
you on top of that busy day, ifyou then add on a layer of
(19:16):
frustration because you didn'tget to do what you wanted to do,
it makes it the wholeexperience even more frustrating
and, um, upsetting.
So if you can have a moment oflike, okay, this is more
important right now.
I'm just going to abandon theother things that I had on my
to-do list.
I think it gives you a littlebit of breathing room to just
(19:37):
say this is, this is thepriority now and I think that
has come up for me quite a fewtimes of like.
Just let it go, just go withwhat's in front of you right now
, um, and I think, yeah, that'sbeen a big, a big lesson for me
this year of just be flexiblewith it.
(19:58):
You can't do everything.
You're only one person, there'sonly 24 hours in the day.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Just just go with what's in front of you, that's
most urgent right now, what'smost pressing, um, and the rest
will get done when it can getdone yeah, yeah, no, that's a
good point, and I often thinkabout like okay, when things
have to get shuffled, like that,I think about the things that
(20:24):
are getting dropped and andthink, is anyone and I know this
is like extreme but like, isanyone going to die from this?
These don't get right.
And so it's kind of like whenwe were teaching full-time and
it was.
You know, the kids come to youwith what seems to be an
(20:44):
emergency, but you're like, areyou bleeding?
Because that's an emergency,and so kind of just tempering
our own.
I don't even know if it's ourexpectations, kind of you know
to to realize that it's going tobe there tomorrow, right, even
things that have deadlines thatfeel like you know, I need a
(21:09):
deadline to like keep myself ontrack, but it's also a guideline
and a lot of things we can havea little wiggle room with.
Some things we know we can't,and that's why we have to like
make sure we build in thosetimes to work on those bigger
tasks and to ensure that we'regoing to in fact meet the
(21:33):
deadline.
But a lot of the things that wedo in our roles are we make
them up, right?
It's like, okay, this has to bedone by this day to ensure that
it's going to be ready for thisnext thing, like even writing
reports or, you know, gettingthings out to parents which you
know feels pressing.
But at the same time I alwaysthink, well, that's a made up
(21:56):
deadline by someone in theschool, which is an important
thing to have.
So if someone made it up, itcan also be changed if necessary
.
And like you don't want to haveto change things like that
because you want to beconsistent and you want to be
reliable.
But you know, when some thingscome up, sometimes you have to
bump things a day.
And is that going to change thecourse of the year?
(22:18):
Probably not.
So I think just some of thatkind of time pressure too.
If we could like go back andtell ourselves early in the year
and this is a thing that youknow, we've been doing this for
how many years now like we haveto remind ourselves that it's
okay if this doesn't get donetoday, exactly Like you said,
(22:44):
having to be flexible andadaptable, because that's what
teaching is.
Sometimes you know what the dayshould look like and it just
doesn't look like that, forwhatever reason.
So it's such a good reminder,even after being in classrooms
in schools for 20 somethingyears, that we've both been in a
lot of time in schools andthat's a consistent experience
(23:10):
for any teacher.
Things just change Real quick.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah, and I think that's part and parcel of
working with people, right?
You just don't know what stateeveryone is going to be in from
day to day and you can't justsay, excuse me, I can't deal
with you being tired or nothaving eaten or had a family
(23:37):
crisis, because I have an agendathat I need to get through.
So, yeah, it's part of thathuman-centered work that we do,
I think, is having to kind of gowith the flow a little bit.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Yeah, for sure, would you say that's your pare-down
pointer for this episode?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
No, yeah, before we go to the pair down point, I was
just thinking something elsefor September.
May is I don't, because westarted gathering information
for our two-parter for thepodcast, the Partners of
Educators.
We started gathering the surveydata back at the start of this
(24:18):
academic year, right, and Idon't think I realised how
impactful those two episodeswere going to be.
I can't tell you the amount ofpeople that have reached out to
me to talk about those twoepisodes and how fascinating it
was.
I've had so many people reachout.
Have you had people reachingout to you as well?
Speaker 3 (24:40):
No, not for that episode.
Yeah, I've had emails coming infrom different episodes this
season which I found you know,like the, the episode with Lori
and and leading with love, theepisode from Fred and that kind
of higher level organizationalwork.
(25:01):
Um, someone else emailed thisweek too.
I'm I'm looking at our list,actually, and I can't remember
what the episode was, but theyhad like, yeah, it's just funny
that the people that have beenpopping up this season with
certain things, but that's sointeresting that people have
mentioned this to you.
Yeah, in particular.
(25:21):
Yeah, people have been this toyou.
Yeah, in particular.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yeah, people have been reaching out to say like
that was fascinating to hearthose results from partners, of
educators, and so, yeah, I meanI would love to do it on a
grander scale to get an evenbigger data set, an even bigger
(25:45):
data set, um.
But yeah, it seems like I'mstill talking about it, even
though we've been, you know,from creating the survey and
sending it out back then all theway to now.
It feels like it's been.
It's been a bit of a long hauljourney, but it's.
It's so interesting to to hearthe the impact that that's had
on different people very muchfor sure.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
I mean true, right, like just I'm thinking about the
number of conversations fromthis year about you know, just
processing what's happened inyour day with teachers and
students and you.
There's a lot of mental work tounpack at the end of a day.
(26:25):
Like we need people to likelisten to us, whether it's a
partner or a friend or your dog.
Like you know, just like amental unload that needs to
happen and I honestly I don'tknow if I know any teachers that
don't in some way unpack, youknow, or like outwardly process
(26:48):
a teaching day, and it doesn'thave to be the whole day, but it
might be something thathappened from the day.
I feel like it's just something, because otherwise you just
it's so hard to keep everythingin your mind because so much
happens during the day.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Absolutely.
Yeah, that's super interesting.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah, so pare down pointer.
I think thinking about all ofthat, about, you know, making it
through a busy year, orlearning to be more flexible, or
learning from the partners ofeducators I think my pare down
point to thinking about all ofthat would just be go gently
(27:30):
with yourself you know, be kindand caring and don't be too hard
on yourself.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
You know, be be kinder to yourself in this work
that we do yeah, I think it'sbecause we have high
expectations of ourselves, right, and so we can be very hard on
ourselves when we don't achievewhat we want to.
That's a good one.
(27:58):
Uh, I would say what's my paredown pointer?
I think, maybe to I was goingto kind of go back to that
flexibility, but I think, maybe,I think what would really help
(28:18):
us is if we just remembered tothink sometimes more simply, not
overcomplicate what's going tobe coming up, because we can
really have this anticipatoryanxiety about things that have
(28:41):
not happened yet in a schoolyear.
And I think that you know, justthinking about some of the
conversations I've had withteachers over this year and with
myself and actually my friendsthat are in also in my
professional network right.
(29:03):
Sometimes we just think too farahead because that's what in my
professional network, right.
Sometimes we just think too farahead because that's what we do
as teachers.
Right, we are forward plannersor like forward thinking and to
backwards plan, but we canreally get caught up in the
future.
And so we get over, complicatethings and, you know, look for
too many resources or like, well, I don't have this yet, or I
(29:27):
don't know what to do, or likewhat if this happens?
You know the what ifs, and so Ithink, if we just like bring
ourselves back to the moment andjust be think simply, like what
do I need right now?
This goes back to, like, youknow, a lot of our triple P work
.
What's the point of what I'mdoing?
What is my priority right nowand what's like the thing?
(29:48):
Is there something that Iactually need to help me
accomplish this?
If not, if it's just you andyour mental capacity, great, is
it just asking someone aquestion to help you out?
Right?
So, like, just thinking, keep,keep that way of thinking as
much as you can as you gothrough the school year, because
we know that there are certaintimes in the year where that
(30:11):
feels so hard.
Yeah, so I think that's my bit.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Keep it simple.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
That's right, that's right.
That's right, that's right.
This has been a nice year endwrap up, wrap up with, like you
(30:41):
know, let's, let's talk toourselves from the past and and
kind of tie some things togetherand maybe just bring that with
us to the next school year.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Let's hope so.
Take some of these lessons withus into the next year.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Yes, thank you so much, christine.
This was a lovely conversationas it always is.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Thanks, tammy.
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Find out more atplanzplservicescom.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Be sure to join Tammy and Christine and guests for
more episodes of the MinimalistEducator 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
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 Teacher Book, TammyMusiewski-Borneman and Christine
Arnold.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Minimalist
Educator Podcast.
Thank you for joining us forone of our final episodes of
season four.
As another school year wraps up, we wanted to take a moment to
slow down and reflect.
It's so easy to jump straightinto the next thing, but
reflection is a powerfulpractice.
It helps us notice what we'velearned, how we've changed and
(00:57):
what we want to carry forward.
So in this episode, we'resharing something just a little
bit different.
We are sharing letters,thoughts, reflections for our
past selves, back at the startof the year in September.
It's our way of looking back atwhere we started and what the
year has taught us.
We've tried to be honest andpersonal and hopefully it
encourages you to do the samething.
(01:19):
Give yourself some credit forwhat you've been making it
through this year.
Let's get into it.
Hello everyone and welcome totoday's episode of the
Minimalist Educator podcast.
I am here with Tammy.
How are you today, tammy?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I'm doing pretty well .
Speaker 2 (01:41):
How are you, christine?
I am good, I'm very well.
How are you, christine?
I am good, I'm very well.
The sun is shining as we gettowards closer and closer to
summer holidays.
So, yes, I'm getting excitedabout the change in weather.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yes, for sure, that time of year where schools and
teachers are starting to winddown in some places, with
schools closing for the summerat the end of May.
I know you go a little bitlonger because you start later
in the year, but it's still winddown time and you know know all
(02:23):
the things are happening rightnow.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
It feels like exactly , exactly, which brings us to
our theme for today, our topictoday.
Tammy, we are almost doing likea letter to our past selves.
Dear september me, what wouldwe say to ourselves at the start
of this academic year that'sjust about to end?
(02:47):
What would be the message thatwe would send ourselves?
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Well, I think, before we can do that, I kind of feel
like we have to go through theroller coaster that the year has
been, because we definitely arenot the same people we were a
bunch of months ago.
You know, similar but not quitethe same.
There's been some good thingsthat have happened.
(03:13):
We've had some goodinteractions with people
teachers and students, um, andfrom those interactions we
discover things about ourselvesand others, and so I think it's
interesting that we're talkingabout this, because this is one
of the things I ask teachers atthis point in the year as we're
(03:34):
doing year-end meetings.
So, you know, I ask them likegive me some highlights from the
year.
You know what are you proud of?
Give me some highlights fromthe year you know what are you
proud of?
Because you're not the sameperson you were when you started
this year.
You've, you know, had somegrowth with students, but also
professional growth, and it'spretty interesting and really
(03:59):
cool to hear what teachers'responses are.
So I think that if I'm lookingat you know people that I've
worked with this year I'm notgoing to talk about myself yet,
but some of the things thatteachers are saying that you
know this is this was not meseveral months ago was, um, you
(04:23):
know, like I'm really proud ofmyself and the confidence I've
built as a teacher over thisyear and I thought, you know, I
had a couple of teachers saythat and I'm like that's like
really great for you to feel asense, a better sense of like
how you're teaching and whatyou're teaching.
(04:44):
So that for me was actually ahighlight, just having worked
with a bunch of, you know, thesesame teachers.
This year.
I had another teacher say thatshe was really proud of how
consistent she was with buildingin time for students to talk to
each other this year too.
(05:05):
So I thought that was a reallygood, you know, practical type
of thing where at the start ofthe year maybe that wasn't a
focus for instruction but becamea really strong point of
teaching throughout the year.
So I thought those were some,some cool reflections from
(05:26):
teachers that I heard that aretop of mind for me right now.
What's coming up for you?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Well, it's funny that you say you're having those
conversations, because after ourmost recent vacation break
holiday break, whatever you wantto call it I was talking to the
teams about what their winshave been for the year so far,
and it was just so lovely to seehow many of the teams were
(05:52):
talking about a win for them hadbeen the teamwork and the
collaboration that they've hadwith other staff members.
Which I think brings us back tothat idea that we always keep
coming back to on this podcastis the importance of
relationships, and that is justsuch a huge part of what we do,
(06:13):
and so I feel like that was agood reminder of that that when
you can feel that that is a winfor you, you feel like you've
had a great year when thosecollegial relationships are
going well.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
So, um, yes, I've also been having those
conversations yeah, I wastalking to some teachers this
week at well.
I was at two schools wrappingup with them and one school does
have that time for thatcollaboration and building their
relationships together.
The other really doesn't.
(06:49):
And I was thinking how thatreally played a role in staff
morale this year because didn'treally have that together time
unless I was with them for a PDand so it was really great to
work with them, with, you know,during some of their PD times,
(07:11):
because a lot of their meetingtime had just different focus
points, right, because they're,you know, looking at some you
know, just different schoolaspects where it doesn't didn't
require necessarily them tocollaborate together, but it was
like information disseminationor you know things like that.
(07:34):
That doesn't really necessarilybuild relationships because
you're just gatheringinformation.
But when we were togetherduring PD times I could see how
much they enjoyed that becausethey were engaged in what we
were doing and questions werebeing asked and there was lots
of interaction.
And so I think, as like aSeptember dear September, me as
(08:04):
a coach, I would probablyadvocate more for teachers to
have that time in some way, eventhough it's been a conversation
, you know, at different pointsthroughout the year with
administrators.
But I think I might have beenlike stronger with that, like
(08:24):
people need to share their ideas, they need to be able to just
have these different kinds ofinteractions between each other
and and talk about the successesthey're having with students
based on you know cause.
A lot of teachers did sharewith me that they did try out
some of the things that wetalked about, whether it was
(08:45):
station teaching or justdifferent discussion protocols
for students, and I saw those inaction and they went really
well.
But they don't get a chance toshare what they tried out,
necessarily, unless it'sinformal, you know in the hall
or something.
But we know that when we getthat chance to have some kind of
(09:07):
a structure for ourselves asadults in a professional
learning like community um or apd session, it builds morale, it
makes people feel like oh yeah,that was a really great idea
that you had.
I'm going to try that in myclassroom and so I think it
would be something that I wouldadvocate for more for teachers
(09:29):
to have.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, so important.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, what else is coming up for you?
Because I know that you had alot going on in your role.
You had accreditation this year, so you were preparing for that
.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah, yeah yeah, that's definitely what I'm
thinking about when I think backto September me.
I was very much aware, goinginto this academic year, that
that I was going to have a loton my plate.
I was very, very conscious ofthat and, you know, as life goes
, even more came up as we gotinto the year as well.
(10:09):
So, yeah, so I mean yeah, at atschool, yeah, I was leading us
into this big new project andyou know we've had our podcast
as to keep going as well.
As you know, another bigproject that I won't talk about
much now, but we'll we'll tellyou all about it soon.
Um, you know, and then stuffgoing on in my personal life as
(10:32):
well that required time andeffort and attention as well.
So I knew before the school yearhad even started that that this
school year was going to be bemassive, um, and so I think, if
I'm looking back at September me, I would just say you know,
you've, you've got this, you cando it, and I think I was trying
(10:55):
to have that self-talk at thetime.
But you know, there's alwaysthat little bit of doubt, that
little seed of like no, youcannot do all of this at the
same time.
Or you know, or you might beable to do it, but you might go
crazy in the attempt to do it.
So I think that message of youcan actually handle this.
(11:15):
You can do this.
I think that would be a hugeone, a huge little encouragement
that I would love to send backin time to September May for
sure would love to send back intime to September, May, for sure
.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, and having worked with you this year on the
podcast and our and our otherproject, um, I've seen the
variations of you which you know.
Sometimes it was like, yeah,it's, it is what it is, we're
moving along.
Sometimes it was not so great.
But, it's good to like thinkback that yeah, of course you're
(11:53):
going to be able to handle it.
It's going to be hard, andthinking to your future self
next year is going to be totallydifferent, because a lot of
things are off your plate.
So I mean, some things arestarting to come off the plate
now, which is great.
As you wind down the year too,um, you know that's a really
(12:13):
good reflection, cause I know ithas been.
It's been a year for you forsure.
Still, standing.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
I'm still standing.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
You are, you are and you're still sane and and
functioning.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Let's hope so.
Let's hope so yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
I'm thinking about, too, some of the professional
learning that I did for myselfthis year, this year, and I was
fortunate to be able to go to afew coaching trainings which I
(12:55):
found to be really helpful.
So I went to a transformationalcoaching training.
I went to the art of coachingteams, coaching for equity, and
those are all from Alina Aguilar, so if you're a coach, you
might be familiar with her workand, as I think back to that, I
(13:17):
really valued the consistentapproach in those learning
experiences for myself and Igrabbed certain things from
there and built into my own work, so like team meetings,
structures and questions that Iused and things like that.
But I would probably tell mySeptember self to capture that
(13:43):
learning in a way that is gonnahelp me sustain it and use it
throughout the whole year.
So, even though you know I havethe learning guides and my
notes and the books and thingslike that I needed at this point
in the year, and not that Icouldn't go back to things, but
(14:04):
I feel like I needed a differentway to ensure that I was using
some of those really goodquestions that I was like, oh, I
want to use that or oh, I wantto try this experience to like
get teachers to think aboutthings in a different way.
And as the years gone on, Ifeel like I mean I use the
(14:25):
questions with teachers or likeask the questions that I felt
like made sense at the time,right.
But I'm wondering too, howcould I have dug a little deeper
with teachers if I had justcaptured a little bit more from
my own learning and was able tobring it Because some of that
(14:46):
first training was in September.
Bring it because some of thethat first training was in
September.
That was beginning of theschool year.
And so you know, just makingsure I'm kind of still sticking
with those things that I'velearned and because there's some
like really great activitiesand questions.
But when I think about this,this last bit of time and doing
wrap up meetings with coaches orwith teachers, I'm like, oh,
(15:08):
that could have been better, youknow, because I feel like when
I started the year I wasstronger because I had that was
like just fresher for me.
So, you know, next year's a newschool year.
I still have a bit morecoaching for the rest of this
school year.
Interestingly.
I still have a bit morecoaching for the rest of this
school year, interestingly, eventhough we're wrapping up.
(15:30):
But, yeah, something to thinkabout for sure, just like my own
learning journey.
Capturing and implementationfor a longer period of time yeah
, if you have ideas for that,that'd be great.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
It's tricky, isn't it ?
Because it's one of those thingswhen you do courses or webinars
or read a book is you have todo something with it, or else it
just kind of it fades, itdisappears, so.
So you do like you get somotivated and excited while
you're doing the thing orreading the thing, um, but
(16:07):
actually transferring it andapplying it and keeping it front
of mind is, I think it's anongoing.
It's an ongoing challenge.
And I try and remember I workedwith with wonderful teacher
years ago and she used to say,like if she did a PD day or a
course, if I just get one thingout of this, I'm happy.
If I can just apply one newthing, I'm happy.
(16:29):
And so I try and remember that,you know, because you know, in
the course of a day or a two-daycourse, there's so many ideas,
there's so many new thinking andnew approaches that you can do
yeah and yeah, like you get.
Sometimes you're like, oh, it'sa shame that I've kind of
forgotten that or missed that,but as long as you've got like
(16:52):
that one thing that you can tryand start putting into your
repertoire of tools andstrategies, I think that's good.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yes, thank you for making me feel better about
myself.
I'm glad I'm here, for that.
That is true, you know there'sdefinitely some questions that
I've kept.
But like that's the trickything with books too, right, and
if I'm traveling to do coachingI can't bring like all the
books with me.
But you know what I can liketake pictures of some pages
(17:24):
maybe, and put it in a digitalfolder and refer back to,
because I mean I have some stuffwritten and whatever, but it's
just good to revisit those,those pieces that I'm like yeah,
that was really good and Iforgot to keep doing that or
keep asking that or you know,but yeah, it's such a good point
(17:48):
.
Just one thing and you knowthat's usually what I ask
teachers what's just one thingthat you're grabbing from our
coaching this year that likestuck with you, like hello,
apply that to myself.
You just have higherexpectations for yourself,
obviously yeah, so it's funny,but anything else you would tell
(18:09):
your September self or teachersthat you work with this year.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I yeah, I think, a huge learning thing for me.
It might sound really basic andsimple, but just being flexible
and adaptable.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Because this year, more than any other year, I feel
like things have come up thatneed to be dealt with or
addressed or supported, thathave completely hijacked for
lack of a better word what I hadon my agenda.
You know, and so I've talked alot about you know, imagining
(18:53):
your top three priorities forthe day or imagining what done
feels like for the day, and youknow the strategies definitely
are something that I try and doall the time at work.
But when you have a day wherethings come up and you cannot do
what you thought you needed todo or you wanted to get done, if
you on top of that busy day, ifyou then add on a layer of
(19:16):
frustration because you didn'tget to do what you wanted to do,
it makes it the wholeexperience even more frustrating
and, um, upsetting.
So if you can have a moment oflike, okay, this is more
important right now.
I'm just going to abandon theother things that I had on my
to-do list.
I think it gives you a littlebit of breathing room to just
(19:37):
say this is, this is thepriority now and I think that
has come up for me quite a fewtimes of like.
Just let it go, just go withwhat's in front of you right now
, um, and I think, yeah, that'sbeen a big, a big lesson for me
this year of just be flexiblewith it.
(19:58):
You can't do everything.
You're only one person, there'sonly 24 hours in the day.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Just just go with what's in front of you, that's
most urgent right now, what'smost pressing, um, and the rest
will get done when it can getdone yeah, yeah, no, that's a
good point, and I often thinkabout like okay, when things
have to get shuffled, like that,I think about the things that
(20:24):
are getting dropped and andthink, is anyone and I know this
is like extreme but like, isanyone going to die from this?
These don't get right.
And so it's kind of like whenwe were teaching full-time and
it was.
You know, the kids come to youwith what seems to be an
(20:44):
emergency, but you're like, areyou bleeding?
Because that's an emergency,and so kind of just tempering
our own.
I don't even know if it's ourexpectations, kind of you know
to to realize that it's going tobe there tomorrow, right, even
things that have deadlines thatfeel like you know, I need a
(21:09):
deadline to like keep myself ontrack, but it's also a guideline
and a lot of things we can havea little wiggle room with.
Some things we know we can't,and that's why we have to like
make sure we build in thosetimes to work on those bigger
tasks and to ensure that we'regoing to in fact meet the
(21:33):
deadline.
But a lot of the things that wedo in our roles are we make
them up, right?
It's like, okay, this has to bedone by this day to ensure that
it's going to be ready for thisnext thing, like even writing
reports or, you know, gettingthings out to parents which you
know feels pressing.
But at the same time I alwaysthink, well, that's a made up
(21:56):
deadline by someone in theschool, which is an important
thing to have.
So if someone made it up, itcan also be changed if necessary
.
And like you don't want to haveto change things like that
because you want to beconsistent and you want to be
reliable.
But you know, when some thingscome up, sometimes you have to
bump things a day.
And is that going to change thecourse of the year?
(22:18):
Probably not.
So I think just some of thatkind of time pressure too.
If we could like go back andtell ourselves early in the year
and this is a thing that youknow, we've been doing this for
how many years now like we haveto remind ourselves that it's
okay if this doesn't get donetoday, exactly Like you said,
(22:44):
having to be flexible andadaptable, because that's what
teaching is.
Sometimes you know what the dayshould look like and it just
doesn't look like that, forwhatever reason.
So it's such a good reminder,even after being in classrooms
in schools for 20 somethingyears, that we've both been in a
lot of time in schools andthat's a consistent experience
(23:10):
for any teacher.
Things just change Real quick.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah, and I think that's part and parcel of
working with people, right?
You just don't know what stateeveryone is going to be in from
day to day and you can't justsay, excuse me, I can't deal
with you being tired or nothaving eaten or had a family
(23:37):
crisis, because I have an agendathat I need to get through.
So, yeah, it's part of thathuman-centered work that we do,
I think, is having to kind of gowith the flow a little bit.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Yeah, for sure, would you say that's your pare-down
pointer for this episode?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
No, yeah, before we go to the pair down point, I was
just thinking something elsefor September.
May is I don't, because westarted gathering information
for our two-parter for thepodcast, the Partners of
Educators.
We started gathering the surveydata back at the start of this
(24:18):
academic year, right, and Idon't think I realised how
impactful those two episodeswere going to be.
I can't tell you the amount ofpeople that have reached out to
me to talk about those twoepisodes and how fascinating it
was.
I've had so many people reachout.
Have you had people reachingout to you as well?
Speaker 3 (24:40):
No, not for that episode.
Yeah, I've had emails coming infrom different episodes this
season which I found you know,like the, the episode with Lori
and and leading with love, theepisode from Fred and that kind
of higher level organizationalwork.
(25:01):
Um, someone else emailed thisweek too.
I'm I'm looking at our list,actually, and I can't remember
what the episode was, but theyhad like, yeah, it's just funny
that the people that have beenpopping up this season with
certain things, but that's sointeresting that people have
mentioned this to you.
Yeah, in particular.
(25:21):
Yeah, people have been this toyou.
Yeah, in particular.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yeah, people have been reaching out to say like
that was fascinating to hearthose results from partners, of
educators, and so, yeah, I meanI would love to do it on a
grander scale to get an evenbigger data set, an even bigger
(25:45):
data set, um.
But yeah, it seems like I'mstill talking about it, even
though we've been, you know,from creating the survey and
sending it out back then all theway to now.
It feels like it's been.
It's been a bit of a long hauljourney, but it's.
It's so interesting to to hearthe the impact that that's had
on different people very muchfor sure.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
I mean true, right, like just I'm thinking about the
number of conversations fromthis year about you know, just
processing what's happened inyour day with teachers and
students and you.
There's a lot of mental work tounpack at the end of a day.
(26:25):
Like we need people to likelisten to us, whether it's a
partner or a friend or your dog.
Like you know, just like amental unload that needs to
happen and I honestly I don'tknow if I know any teachers that
don't in some way unpack, youknow, or like outwardly process
(26:48):
a teaching day, and it doesn'thave to be the whole day, but it
might be something thathappened from the day.
I feel like it's just something, because otherwise you just
it's so hard to keep everythingin your mind because so much
happens during the day.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Absolutely.
Yeah, that's super interesting.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah, so pare down pointer.
I think thinking about all ofthat, about, you know, making it
through a busy year, orlearning to be more flexible, or
learning from the partners ofeducators I think my pare down
point to thinking about all ofthat would just be go gently
(27:30):
with yourself you know, be kindand caring and don't be too hard
on yourself.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
You know, be be kinder to yourself in this work
that we do yeah, I think it'sbecause we have high
expectations of ourselves, right, and so we can be very hard on
ourselves when we don't achievewhat we want to.
That's a good one.
(27:58):
Uh, I would say what's my paredown pointer?
I think, maybe to I was goingto kind of go back to that
flexibility, but I think, maybe,I think what would really help
(28:18):
us is if we just remembered tothink sometimes more simply, not
overcomplicate what's going tobe coming up, because we can
really have this anticipatoryanxiety about things that have
(28:41):
not happened yet in a schoolyear.
And I think that you know, justthinking about some of the
conversations I've had withteachers over this year and with
myself and actually my friendsthat are in also in my
professional network right.
(29:03):
Sometimes we just think too farahead because that's what in my
professional network, right.
Sometimes we just think too farahead because that's what we do
as teachers.
Right, we are forward plannersor like forward thinking and to
backwards plan, but we canreally get caught up in the
future.
And so we get over, complicatethings and, you know, look for
too many resources or like, well, I don't have this yet, or I
(29:27):
don't know what to do, or likewhat if this happens?
You know the what ifs, and so Ithink, if we just like bring
ourselves back to the moment andjust be think simply, like what
do I need right now?
This goes back to, like, youknow, a lot of our triple P work
.
What's the point of what I'mdoing?
What is my priority right nowand what's like the thing?
(29:48):
Is there something that Iactually need to help me
accomplish this?
If not, if it's just you andyour mental capacity, great, is
it just asking someone aquestion to help you out?
Right?
So, like, just thinking, keep,keep that way of thinking as
much as you can as you gothrough the school year, because
we know that there are certaintimes in the year where that
(30:11):
feels so hard.
Yeah, so I think that's my bit.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Keep it simple.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
That's right, that's right.
That's right, that's right.
This has been a nice year endwrap up, wrap up with, like you
(30:41):
know, let's, let's talk toourselves from the past and and
kind of tie some things togetherand maybe just bring that with
us to the next school year.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Let's hope so.
Take some of these lessons withus into the next year.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Yes, thank you so much, christine.
This was a lovely conversationas it always is.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Thanks, tammy.
Today's episode was brought toyou by Plan Z Professional
Learning Servicesforward-thinking educator
support.
Find out more atplanzplservicescom.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Be sure to join Tammy and Christine and guests for
more episodes of the MinimalistEducator 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
Gaia Moretti.
Thank you.
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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!
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