Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers

When the learning curve is overwhelming (especially with technology), these 5 guiding principles can help: Start with the outcome you want to achieve, and choose the best tool accordingly (rather than vice versa). Approach technology as a tool to support learning, not the focus of the learning itself. Use tech to enhance, not dominate, what you’re already doing. Use what you love and don’t abandon what works for the next shiny new thing. Be willing to learn through experimentation rather than a formal training. Listen in on this encouraging, motivating episode that reminds you how to shift focus away from the overwhelming array of options and things you DON’T know how to do, and recenter on what you DO know. Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.

Adapting a flexible, resilient pedagogy will allow us to roll with any changes that might come, and will carry us through to post-pandemic teaching, as well. The goal? To emerge from this school year with more equitable, sustainable, and relevant ways of teaching and learning. So what exactly does flexible resilience pedagogy look like in practice? I’ll share some tips to help you plan ONE set of activities for every lesson, and use them for face-to-face, online, and hybrid instruction. I’ll also share 11 practical strategies to help you find a manageable, sustainable approach to planning instruction this year, no matter what changes might come in your teaching context. Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.

In our rush to figure out logistics, we can’t forget that who we ARE impacts how we teach more than anything else. Unpacking our own identity and the “why” we bring to the classroom can be a grounding force that holds us steady through change. Listen in as I have a laid-back yet energizing conversation with Tanesha Forman, a middle school teacher entering her 15th year in the classroom. She shares how her daily classroom work is a reflection of her own learning, identity, and growth, and how she uses that self-reflection to support students in being fully seen and known in her classroom. Tanesha also shares how she’s planning for both curriculum and socio-emotional learning in the coming school year through a reflective, anti-bias/anti-racist lens. We talk about disrupting power structures, and Tanesha shares her “freedom dream” in which kids and teachers can fully be themselves in school. If you want to surround yourself right now with the inspiration of folks who are reimagining schools through their daily work, this episode is a must-listen. Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.

Whether you’re with kids face-to-face daily or a few days a week or totally online, I think it’s fair to say that your lessons for back-to-school this year are not going to be what you wish they could be. You probably won't be able to do what you did in previous school years. The sooner you can accept that, the easier it will be to plan because you won’t be spending so much energy shoehorning in activities that just aren’t going to work. The sooner you can accept that the start of this school year is not going to be optimal for you or your students, the easier it will be to see things in a really clear-headed way and find the best possible solutions. In this epsiode, I'll share the WHY and HOW for keeping your lesson plans simple for the first couple of weeks. As you get more answers from your district about what's expected, you'll be able to do build in more activities and experiences for kids. But, you don't have to have it all figured out before the first day of school. Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.

I’ve been thinking a lot about where I personally can add the most value, and how I can offer support and resources in the way I do best. I’m going to share part of my manifesto here with you. These are my beliefs and goals that will shape the work I do around the changes coming this fall to our schools. You will see these perspectives interwoven into every resource from me this coming school year — emails, blog posts, podcast eps, social media posts, 40 Hour Workweek resources, and so on. Specifically, I'll share: The importance of time to rest and regroup before preparing lessons for the coming year Why you shouldn't wait for your district to finalize plans before you speak up about your needs How to seek out the overlap between what's best for teachers and what's best for kids How radical acceptance can prepare you to create much-needed change in our schools Ways a flexible, resilient pedagogy can simplify your workload and help you support students more effectively Why I believe the work we're doing this school year will be some of the most important of our careers 5 core beliefs that will guide the work I do this coming school year, and the ways I'll offer support Click here for links to the transcript and all resources mentioned. Join our podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes. I'll be back with the first episode of season 12 of the podcast on August 2nd. 

  If you've been feeling like you can't make a difference right now, listen in for how you can stand up for racial justice and create positive change. I'll share why I am hopeful that uprising we're experiencing as a nation is leading us toward racial healing and equality, and what YOU can do to help. You have the power to uncover and root out discriminatory practices in your classroom, school, and district. There are actionable steps you can take starting today to do an informal "equity audit." The goal is to name and interrupt patterns of bias + racism in the way we do school, and it's one of the most impactful choices you can make as an educator who wants to create a better world for our kids. Click here for links to the transcript and all resources mentioned: https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/a-message-of-hope-call-to-action-for-justice/  

We’re wrapping up Season 11 of the podcast in this episode, and talking about how to wrap up the school year, as well. The usual end-of-year activities won’t quite fit the bill right now, so I’m sharing how other teachers are creating closure for the year, even when they can’t be face-to-face with their students. I’ll also share a crisis classroom closeout process if you only have a few hours to shut down your room: Download the PDF here Get the editable checklist in a Google Doc here Season 12 of the podcast will begin in August, and I’ll check in periodically over the summer with bonus episodes and announcements to keep you in the loop. Thank you for listening, sharing, subscribing, and reviewing the podcast! Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.

Perfectionism is not always about needing things to be perfect. It can look like an “all-or-nothing” mentality that keeps us from creating the change we want. My working theory is that everyone struggles with perfectionism, it simply manifests differently for different people. We all have our things that we are extremely particular about. Even folks who are super laid-back or happily disorganized or go-with-the-flow still have very defined preferences for certain aspects of their life. I think it’s the root word “perfect” that throws people off. Very few people actually try to make everything to be absolutely perfect with no flaws at all times. But, we do all sometimes have the belief that things have to be a certain way in order for us to be content or satisfied. Things have to match out personal standard in order to be acceptable — and that’s a sneaky form of perfectionism. In this episode, I’m going to share 3 thought patterns that you may recognize, explain how they’re actually tied to perfectionism, and give you some strategies to shift your thinking. Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.

How do we reimagine schools and use this interruption to our lives to create a better normal post-pandemic? My guest in this episode is Dan Heath, a New York Times bestselling author of 5 books, the most recent being “Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen.” This book is a MUST read for anyone who’s curious about how to create systemic change or how to improve our daily lives through pro-active problem-solving. Dan explains why we spend more time and resources fixing problems than preventing them. He gives concrete examples of people and organizations that have gone “upstream” to identify what’s creating havoc and fix things there, BEFORE the problems come to them downstream. We have an unprecedented opportunity right now for change in many areas: healthcare, the economy, the environment, and so on. Every part of our lives and society have been touched, and will be changed ... and it’s up to us to envision a better “new normal.” If you loved EP192 on reimagining schools and want more inspiration for how to move forward, I think you’ll find this episode fascinating. Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.

Crisis distance learning has improved teaching and learning in some surprising (and not-so-surprising ways) over the last couple of weeks. There’s no doubt that it’s been stressful trying to make the transition so abruptly, but I thought it might be helpful to do an episode on the positives some folks are seeing, too. Whether you secretly prefer remote teaching or if you just wish you were back in your classroom again, this episode will help you focus on the potential benefits of teaching from home. You’ll learn some emerging best practices and positive reports from teachers about their experiences with distance learning to help you make the best of this time. You’ll also hear a call-to-action: observe and document which practices are getting good results (or perhaps better results than face-to-face instruction) for your students. You don't have to figure out now how to carry this over to next school year, but having a record of what you're seeing to prove the benefits of now vs the traditional ways of doing school may be helpful to you later in creating permanent change. If that feels overwhelming, then just pick one thing. What’s one thing you’re doing differently right now that’s working better for you and your students, which you might be able to use in future school years? Keep evidence of that. Experiment with it, a lot, to learn what works and what doesn’t. See where your observations take you in your practice. Listen in now for some inspiration and ideas to get you started! Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.