Teaching through Emotions: how to feel better and teach better

In this special season finale, I sit down with Charles Fournier, creator of the award-winning podcast Those Who Can’t Teach Anymore. Charles is a teacher — a really good, creative, passionate teacher, from what I can tell! — whose insights about what drives teachers out of the profession and what keeps them in are interesting and often surprising.Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.We discuss:* Respect for Teachers: Unpacking the lack of respect for teachers and how it impacts mental health.* The Emphasis on Numbers: The psychological pitfalls of trying to reduce students to test scores.* What Is Teaching?: The tension between teaching the curriculum and engaging in real human relationships.* A Pattern: A surprising characteristic shared by many teachers who survive burnout.External LinksThose Who Can’t Teach AnymoreTeaching TexasTeaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Connect & ShareGot a story to share? What is the one thing keeping you in the classroom or the one thing pushing you to leave? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave me a voicemail at (413) 239-4158 and we might feature your perspective in a future episode!Support the Show: If this conversation resonated, please consider leaving a rating or review on your podcast app. Your feedback helps others find us.Get full access to the community: [www.teachingthroughemotions.com/subscribe]CreditsFounder and Host: Betsy BurrisCo-Host: Joe JohnsonProducer: Jullian Androkae of PodVisionMusic: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.teachingthroughemotions.com/subscribe

As y’all probably know, I’m a big fan of caring in education. But, thanks to today’s guest, Rachel Branham, a veteran Teacher Support Group participant who’s now working in higher education, we get to consider the downsides of caring, too. What if you’re not a particularly “squishy” person? What if you don’t want to be “in the shit” with your students all the time? What does caring look like for you? How does a natural inclination to detach serve you and your students?Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This is such a fun and stimulating conversation! Applicable to anyone who, well, cares. I hope you enjoy it!Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.We discuss* Caring vs. Controlling: Sliding along the continuum between “squishy” teaching and detachment.* Alienation from Big Emotions: When students are joyous or chaotic, feeling outside of their world and not knowing what to do about it.* Students’ (and Teachers’) Psychological Needs: Do all students need or want to be seen? How can teachers love students who are causing them pain?* Setting Boundaries: When and how do you tamp down exuberance when students are “coloring outside the lines”? Where are those “magical lines” in the first place?Connect & ShareGot a story to share? How do you balance care with detachment? How do you find and navigate the “magical line” between them? I’d love to hear! Leave me a voicemail at (413) 239-4158 and we might feature your perspective in a future episode!Or, if you’re a millennial and hate using the phone (like Rachel), send me an email! [email protected] the Show: If this conversation resonated, please consider leaving a rating or review on your podcast app. Your feedback helps others find us.Get full access to the community: www.teachingthroughemotions.com/subscribeExternal linksRadical Love: Rethinking care and professional love in the classroomPedagogy Basics: What educators can learn from early childhood teachersDream Keepers: Comic EditionCreditsFounder and Host: Betsy BurrisCo-Host: Joe JohnsonProducer: Jullian Androkae of PodVisionAudience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVisionMusic: Tom Burris/Jabbering TroutTeaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.teachingthroughemotions.com/subscribe

How can it be that teachers all over the country want to be observed? How can it be that observations of their teaching bring teachers joy? Today I’m conversing with Craig Randall, founder of Trust-Based Observations and expert in the art of supporting teachers in improving their practice. We go “pretty dang deep,” as Craig put it. Which is good, because classroom observations are super important and are too rarely done well.Until now!Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.We discuss* Building Trust: The wisdom of focusing on accumulating “trust marbles” before offering suggestions for improvement* Strengths-Based Observations: The importance of battling the deficit mentality and emphasizing teachers’ strengths* Coaching vs. Fixing: How to short-circuit the typical fix-them orientation* The History of Teacher Observation: How we got here (hint: It’s partly A Nation at Risk’s fault!)Connect & ShareGot a story to share? Tell me a story of a disastrous observation! Or tell me about one that made you glow with confidence and happiness. Leave me a voicemail at (413) 239-4158 and we might feature your perspective in a future episode!Support the Show: If this conversation resonated, please consider leaving a rating or review on your podcast app. Your feedback helps others find us.Get full access to the community: www.teachingthroughemotions.com/subscribeTeaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.External linksTrust-Based Observations (the book)Trust-Based Observation (the website)[email protected]: Eye-Movement Desensitization and ReprocessingCreditsFounder and Host: Betsy BurrisCo-Host: Joe JohnsonProducer: Jullian Androkae of PodVisionAudience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVisionMusic: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.teachingthroughemotions.com/subscribe

In my experience, most teachers — hell, most people — don’t want to admit they hate anyone. “Hate,” they say, “is a strong word.”As if there’s a problem with strong words. (Like “love,” for example.)Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.But people do hate. And when they hate irresponsibly, when they refuse to process that feeling and assume it has more to do with the object of their hatred than with themselves, they can do grave damage.In this episode, Joe and I talk with a wonderfully open, self-aware teacher, storyteller, and entrepreneur who also happens to be a good friend of mine, Hari Kumar. It’s a great story about hate, teaching, self-correction, and hope.Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.We discussTeacher Sarcasm: Why it might be a red flag for teacher burnoutTeaching Philosophy: Hari’s four pillars of teaching, a pedagogical frameworkCat Shit vs. Bullshit: Which one does a teacher want?Embracing “Almostness”: What to do with not knowing and how it can transform your student relationshipsTeaching Community: Thinking about the support systems teachers needConnect & ShareGot a story to share? What do you hate? I’d love to hear! Leave me a voicemail at (413) 239-4158 and we might feature your perspective in a future episode!Support the Show: If this conversation resonated, please consider leaving a rating or review on your podcast app. Your feedback helps others find us.Get full access to the community: www.teachingthroughemotions.com/subscribeExternal linksbell hooks Teaching to Transgressbell hooks Teaching CommunityThose Who Can’t Teach AnymoreCreditsFounder and Host: Betsy BurrisCo-Host: Joe JohnsonProducer: Jullian Androkae of PodVisionAudience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVisionMusic: Tom Burris/Jabbering TroutTeaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.teachingthroughemotions.com/subscribe

This one’s for the leaders.In this episode, I talk with a most amazing psychotherapist and “Leadership Whisperer,” Jerry Fromm. Jerry does organizational consulting, which means he helps people figure out (as I put it) what the hell is happening psychodynamically within their walls — or within their societies! or countries! since he works with individuals and groups domestically and internationally as well. He does quite remarkable work and tells lots of fascinating stories in today’s conversation, stories that will make teachers and school leaders think differently about themselves and the school cultures they’re a part of.Many schools are rethinking their cultures. But I promise you: Jerry’s perspective will make you think in a way you could never have imagined.Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.We discuss* The Clinical Is Missing: A simple and amazing definition of “clinical” makes Jerry’s (and TTE’s) psychodynamic work relevant to schools.* The Sentient Level of Organizations: How, in the psychological dynamics of systems, contagious unprocessed feelings define the school culture.* Playing Roles: Managing the “invitations flying around” all organizations to fit with others in familiar ways.* Different Types of Organizations: What are narcissistic organizations? What are dependent organizations?* The Power of Pictures: What drawing a picture of your organization with you in it can reveal.External LinksFor information on Group Relations Conferences and Leading from Experience, go to The Center for the Study of Groups and Social Systems.To get in touch with Jerry, email him at [email protected], I’m biased: I am certain that teaching is spiritual. Not because teachers need to be religious but because the tasks of teaching human beings require heart-based skills: faith, care, love, “unconditional positive regard for difference” — skills that do not necessarily come naturally all the time and therefore demand care and attention themselves.In this episode, I explore this question and others with Mark Longhurst, an inspiring pastor, writer, and publications manager for Richard Rohr’s Center for Action and Contemplation. Together, we explore how to view teaching (and parenting) not just as a task list, but as a spiritual practice.Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.We discuss:* Flowing with chaos: How to stay grounded when the classroom (or home) feels out of control.* The “holy ordinary”: Why the most mundane moments hold the most spiritual weight.* Detachment for connection: The paradox of detaching from our “teacher identity” to develop healthy attachment with students.* Somatic teaching: The importance of bringing a “settled body” into the classroom.* Sacred spaces: The benefits, and perils, of viewing your classroom as holy ground.External Linksthe holy ordinary by Mark Longhurst (Substack)The Holy Ordinary: A Way to God (Book)My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa MenakemFierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness that Can Heal the World by Dr. Jacqui LewisConnect & ShareGot a story to share? Leave me a voicemail at (413) 239-4158 and we might feature your perspective in a future episode!Support the Show: If this conversation resonated, please consider leaving a rating or review on your podcast app. Your feedback helps others find us.Get full access to the community: [www.teachingthroughemotions.com/subscribe]CreditsFounder and Host: Betsy BurrisCo-Host: Joe JohnsonProducer: Jullian Androkae of PodVisionAudience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVisionMusic: Tom Burris/Jabbering TroutTeaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.teachingthroughemotions.com/subscribe