Angela:

Hello, welcome back to I've Tried Everything, a podcast focusing on behavior supports in schools. I'm your host, Angela Eisenberg, project coordinator at Region 13. Every week I talk with educators just like you. We cover some tough topics, share stories, and explore what works and what doesn't. Let's go.

I am very honored to be joined today by Keith Thompson. He is our director for Leadership and Initiative Supports. Thank you, Keith, for joining me today. I really appreciate it.

Keith:

No, thank you for having me. Angela.

Angela:

I want to talk to you because you're over a lot of different initiatives, and very important initiatives, here at Region 13. You support not only our superintendents, our principals, but also our brand new little interns that are coming into education. So let's put on all those different hats and let's tackle some of those important questions that we have out there.

What do you feel is the biggest concern around behavior and behavior supports right now from the different groups that you support?

Keith:

Yeah, that's a great question. As we check in with our district leaders, our campus leaders, our teachers, they all have different concerns around behaviors right now. Starting with the teacher side of things, behaviors are different every day. Every day that a teacher shows up, they're experiencing new behaviors. Yes, there's some consistency, but from day to day, the teachers don't know what to expect. And for our new teachers right now, we're trying to develop that toolkit that they have to manage the behaviors, but it is a struggle for them right now.

They're seeing behaviors from resistance, from lack of communication, they're seeing behaviors that are aggressive, and so they're seeing a wide range of behaviors right now. And we're trying to work with our teachers to make sure that we have the systems in place to be able to manage those behaviors.

One of the big things we remind our teachers that behavior is communication. And so while you're frustrated with behaviors, there is an underlying message behind it. And so being able to see through the behavior and identify how we can assist the student is a challenge because in the moment we've all been in that position where there's a behavior as a teacher that is extremely frustrating and is preventing you from getting to your instruction. And we're really working with our teachers right now to support that.

From the campus leadership we see a huge need for our principals and assistant principals right now who feel like too much of their time is being spent on behaviors and they're not able to get to the other tasks that they have. And so as the principal, as the instructional leader for that campus, we're hearing, "I'm spending so much time dealing with behaviors on the phone with parents handing out consequences. I don't have time to get into classrooms to focus on the instruction piece."

When we talk to district leaders, they're hearing from the campus leaders about, "Yes, there's a lot of behaviors, campus leadership is requesting support," but districts don't necessarily have, number one, the personnel, or number two, the resources financially to be able to provide that support. And so there's concerns across the board right now.

Angela:

We spent a lot of time after, I want to say after the pandemic, but we're still kind of living in that aftermath of it right now talking about learning loss. But we didn't spend a lot of time talking about behavior loss. And it sounds like that they're kind of reeling in that behavior loss right now when they want to be focusing on that learning loss to make those improvements needed.

We had the opportunity at Region 13 in September to have a panel come all the way from superintendent to a student on a campus, and they talked to us about some of the concerns that they were seeing on their campus. And one of the overwhelming threads that were through each of those panelists was mental wellness and the need for support around mental wellness with staff.

So thinking about those campus leaders out there, how could they best support their staff's mental wellness?

Keith:

Yeah, this is a great question. Thinking back to whenever I was a principal as a campus leader, I was guilty of, "Hey, I put some extra snacks in the lounge. Here's a drink, here's a T-shirt."

Angela:

Here's that gum. You're going the extra mile here.

Keith:

Exactly, "Yeah, I care about you. Let me buy something for you and show you we're here for you to support you." What we're hearing now is, while that's nice, well intentioned, and there's definitely a place for it, there needs to be more. We're asking so much of teachers right now, giving them a bag of popcorn and saying, "You're a rock star," whatever it might be, that's great. But what they need is they need to know that somebody is there to support them and that somebody's there in the trenches with them.

And so for teachers, that mental health piece can be supported by having the opportunity to share concerns, to have that group that they can trust to go to and be able to talk through, "Here's what I'm experiencing," and not necessarily from a point of view of, "I need a solution, but just hear me. Here's my concerns right now. Here's what I'm dealing with. I can't hold this in anymore or I'm going to explode."

And so whether that's somebody on their team that they trust and built a relationship with, whether it's the counselor, whether it's an administrator, it's important for everyone on that campus to have that outlet, somebody that they can go to share how they're feeling, share what their needs are at this time. And once again, not from the point of view of a principal saying, "Okay, well I'm hearing this. Here's how we're going to fix it."

If there's a solution, that's great. But a lot of times it's just being able to vocalize those concerns that does wonders for the teachers to know, "Now somebody knows what I'm going through." We're really stressing with our principals to get out there and get in the trenches and get in the classrooms and provide that support to the teachers. Whether that's, "Hey, I'm going to cover your class for 15 minutes so you can step out, cool off for a little bit, come back." Or whether that is finding ways to take things off of teachers plates.

There's so much we're asking of our teachers and our principals right now, really evaluating what it is we're asking of all of these staff members, what is essential? What can I take off of your plate that's going to give you some of that time back so that you can focus on making sure that you're at your best for the students.

Angela:

We had at our last curriculum council, I guess in September, we had Georgeanne, from Terrell ISD, she's dubbed herself the subbing superintendent on TikTok. So she's out there, she's modeling. She also can empathize with teachers because she's then living what it is that they're dealing with on a daily basis because then she can say, "Wow, I didn't realize kindergartners were at this level," kind of thing.

But as an administrator or district leader, we don't think about the weight that is resting on their shoulders, not only from the accountability that they have, but also that secondary trauma. We hear students' lives and it can be so very overwhelming what they're going through, and we immerse ourselves in that. But then as a leader, you also have your staff's trauma that you're carrying around as well.

As a principal, what are some things that they could do to kind of decompress so that they don't get too wrapped up into that world of secondary trauma?

Keith:

Yeah, that's real right now. I think for a lot of our principals, having that support system, having that group of colleagues that they can turn to, and once again, this isn't a let's talk and you need to give me three ways that I can fix my problems. But being able to vocalize and just share so you're not having to hold everything inside as far as, "This is what I'm experiencing," makes a huge difference.

You're probably going to find out that a lot of principals are going through the same situation right now. And so being able to talk through those concerns, and there's a lot of heaviness on campuses right now. There is trauma out there. We hear every day of just horrific stories of what some of these students are going through. And teachers are compassionate. They carry that weight.

My wife is a teacher. She comes home and she knows the lives of the kids that she works with, and she knows when something's gone wrong. And for her not to be able to carry that weight is a huge ask of her. But for our teachers and for our leaders, being able to share that with somebody, maintaining confidentiality obviously, but just being able to talk through what's happening is very therapeutic. But then also I think what we encourage our teachers and our leaders to do is to really focus on the positives. Because while you may not feel it every day, there are positives that happen every single day.

And as a principal, it was always great to end my day by ending it with a positive phone call. Whether that's calling a teacher that I visited that day saying, "Hey, I really enjoy being in your class today. You did a great job with your small group instruction." Calling that parent that maybe you don't call often enough for the positive reasons. They see your number on the cell phone and maybe they don't answer. But really forcing yourself to end your day with the positive helps you to not necessarily carry that weight home with you after work.

Angela:

I had the utmost honor and privilege to interview two of your interns in the Education Certification Program here at Region 13. William was one of th