Listeners! Ande Lyons, a wonderful, sparkling woman, recently interviewed me on her podcast Don’t Be Caged by Your Age. Ande asked me some great questions about how I got where I am, what advice I have for people over 65 (might be relevant to you even if you aren’t lucky enough to have yet reached 65), and why I care so danged much about my work. It’s a fun interview with lots of laughter!

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

* Learning from Pain: How some awful professional experiences forced me to reckon with the role emotions play in teaching

* Negative Emotions: Why I love and embrace them in myself and others

* Psychic Health: How to, as Ande puts it, “reframe our wounds as our brilliance”

It’s nice to be on the receiving end of the questions! And Ande is a thoughtful and lively host. I hope you check it out!

Connect & Share

Got a story to share? How friendly are you with your negative emotions? How friendly are you willing to get? I’d love to hear! Leave me a voicemail at (413) 239-4158 and we might feature your perspective in a future episode!

Or send me an email! [email protected]

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

External links

Don’t Be Caged by Your Age

YouTube clip from the interview

Instagram clip from the interview

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Co-Host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

My friend Sarah is a bad ass. She is an incredibly good teacher and is assiduously responsible. In our initial episode about the difficulties of having a Teaching Assistant (TA), she promised to follow up with me about her take-aways from her conversation with me and Joe.

Which she did.

And this is the conversation she and I just had about that follow-up.

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Here’s the thing about TAs: They are supposed to be helpful. Just like paraprofessionals and parent volunteers and co-teachers are supposed to be helpful. Very often they are! And very often they are not. Why? Because they are sentient adults. And most sentient adults have their own ways of doing things. They are used to being in charge. And, sometimes, they think their undermining or self-aggrandizing behaviors are good for you. When they’re not. They’re good for them.

So you might think the topic of working with TAs is boring or irrelevant. But Sarah and I (and, in the first episode, Joe) are actually talking about collaborating with anyone who is not you. Not necessarily easy.

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

For example, we discuss

* The Impact of Stress: Sarah owns her busy-ness (“My poor TAs!”) and thinks about how to lower her standards to a range that is more easily reachable.

* Cultural Differences: Sarah’s TAs are from many different countries and cultures. But every adult has their culture. How to bridge the differences?

* Sorting Expectations: Sarah comes up with an approach to determining her TAs’ strengths and weaknesses and assigning them to the proper teaching tier.

Thanks for tuning in! We at TTE hope you’ve had a restful summer and are rarin’ to head back into school!

Connect & Share

Got a story to share? What’s the worst experience you’ve ever had with another adult in your classroom? What’s the best? I’d love to hear! Leave me a voicemail at (413) 239-4158 and I’ll get in touch. Maybe we can feature your story in a future episode!

Or send me an email: [email protected]

Support the Show: If anything about the Teaching through Emotions podcast resonates, please leave a rating or review on your podcast app. Your feedback helps others find us.

Get full access to the community: www.teachingthroughemotions.com/subscribe

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Co-Host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I tend to ask of my clients the question “Where’s the anxiety?” It’s a useful question because anxiety can be at the root of all kinds of bad experiences that need to be unpacked. But “Where’s your joy?” is super important and useful, too. In the Joy Lab podcast, co-hosts Henry Emmons and Aimee Prasek talk about all aspects of joy and wellness in short, 30ish-minute episodes that are calm, friendly, informative, and often themed.

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The episode I’m sharing while my team and I are on hiatus is from the podcast’s “month of gratitude.” It’s called “The Power of Good-Enough Parenting and Calling Out Our Moms.” I chose this episode because, well, they had me at “good-enough parenting.” It’s a term that my main man D.W. Winnicott coined and a concept I love. If you don’t already know what it means, the co-hosts define it beautifully. Take a listen!

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You’ll hear

* Passing It On: how important parental mental health is

* Fear of Women: Where it comes from

* Fear of Domination: How it actually leads to authoritarianism

* The Power of Gratitude: How it affects the future

A couple bonuses in case this topic really interests you: a blog post I wrote 11 years ago called Invisible Work that is right up this topic’s alley.

And a delicious quote from Winnicott (mentioned in the Joy Lab episode): “Every happy person is in infinite debt to a woman.”

Connect & Share

Got a story to share? Where do you find joy? How do you cultivate it in the classroom? I’d love to hear! Leave me a voicemail at (413) 239-4158 and we might feature your perspective in a future episode!

Or send me an email! [email protected]

Support the Show: If anything about the Teaching through Emotions podcast resonates, please leave a rating or review on your podcast app. Your feedback helps others find us.

Get full access to the community: www.teachingthroughemotions.com/subscribe

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Co-Host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

My producer, Jullian Androkae, did something unusual and remarkable when he was 19 years old: He opened a library in Bekitro, his ancestral village in southern Madagascar.

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

That was in 2018. The library is alive and well today. Which you’ll hear about, because this episode is all about Jullian’s Vahombey Project, which built the library, furnished it, stocked it with books, and hired (and still pays) two prodigious librarians, Mme Raissa and Mme Hary, who not only serve hundreds of children a day but have turned the library into a community center.

I call the librarians prodigious because these women are anchors in a somewhat chaotic educational sea. The educational context they work in is quite different from that of the U.S. But the individual situations they deal with are similar — and damn! Raissa and Hary are ON IT! Their voices, which you’ll hear in the episode, inspire me from 10,000 miles away.

Jullian and I discuss

* Giving Back: How he came up with the idea for the project

* Eating Crow: How the village school handled the parents of a disruptive student

* Living on Air: Some pretty incomprehensible differences between teaching in the US and in Madagascar

* Holding the Line: The value of being a “harsh” librarian

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Call to Action

I love this special bonus episode, and I love the Vahombey project. So I hope you listen and enjoy.

But I also hope you click on this link to make a donation to the library. Much is needed there. More books. Dictionaries (you’ll hear that I’m obsessed with this for some reason). A TV to play English- and French-language shows so students can learn these two languages (in addition to Malagasy). Salaries. Support for wildly popular spelling bees!

The smallest donation can make a huge difference in the lives of the kids, teachers, and librarians associated with Vahombey. Check out the list of urgent needs here.

Click here to see pictures of the library, some of the kids it serves, and Jullian!

Please share this episode far and wide! The more people we reach, the better the chances that the library gets the funding it needs.

Thank you. So much.

External links

Vahombey project

Chuffed campaign

Connect & Share

Got a story to share? Have you taught outside the US? Wanna compare and contrast? I’d love to hear! Leave me a voicemail at (413) 239-4158 and we might feature your perspective in a future episode!

Or send me an email! [email protected]

Support the Show: If anything about the Teaching through Emotions podcast resonates, please leave a rating or review on your podcast app. Your feedback helps others find us.

Get full access to the community: www.teachingthroughemotions.com/subscribe

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Co-Host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

It is so frustrating to me — and I think to a lot of educators — that the practices schools adopt that are meant to solve all their problems end up fading away. Like Restorative Practices. A really great program aimed at strengthening relationships through honesty, support, and community connection.

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Of course, no program can be a silver bullet. Change takes humans who exert discipline and consistency and commitment. But, as my readers know, anything that strengthens relationships in schools is good because it increases the chances of effective teaching and learning. Not to mention growth and development. So sticking with programs that foster connection makes sense.

Marisol Quevedo Rerucha, author of Beyond the Surface of Restorative Practices: Building a Culture of Equity, Connection, and Healing and CEO of Heartset Consulting Group, argues for restorative practices in schools. In this episode from Truth for Teachers,

Marisol discusses

* School Culture: Who are restorative practices for?

* Living Our Values: How does our humanity get in the way of our work?

* Making Mistakes: How do we hold each other accountable with love and dignity?

* Being Human: How to blend personal and professional development

* The Role of Faith: What is the Way of the Buffalo? What is a Cow Moment?

Marisol is wise and offers lots of great perspective and advice. If you leave this episode thinking, “YEAH!! Let’s do this thing! But how?” here are a couple of suggestions (beyond using restorative practices in your school):

* Read Loretta Ross’s Calling In: How to Start Making Change with Those You’d Rather Cancel

* Contact TTE

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Connect & Share

Got a story to share? What’s your experience with restorative practices? I’d love to hear! Leave me a voicemail at (413) 239-4158 and we might feature your perspective in a future episode!

Or send me an email! [email protected]

Support the Show: If anything about the Teaching through Emotions podcast resonates, please leave a rating or review on your podcast app. Your feedback helps others find us.

Get full access to the community: www.teachingthroughemotions.com/subscribe

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Co-Host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

So something happens that irritates you and you berate yourself for being too judgmental, eh? It might be time to rethink that judgment.

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In this episode, which is the one you, dear listeners, listened to the most this season, Joe and I talk about a simple, probably all-too-common story of a teacher who condemns herself for having negative feelings in school. You might be surprised by our conclusions!

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

We discuss

* Psychology of Boundaries: Why personal space in a busy classroom isn’t just a preference, it’s a psychological need.

* Reframing “Judgment”: Why we mislabel valid annoyance as a character flaw.

* Failure: How to view conflict as data instead of a disaster.

* Overcoming Self-blame: The power of asking for what you need rather than internalizing the problem.

Beyond the classroom? You don’t have to be a teacher to enjoy this episode! Too many of us turn our legitimate annoyance against ourselves. Hearing how someone (who happens to be a teacher) reframed her negative experience into open-hearted understanding is good for everyone!

Connect & Share

Got a story to share? Ever had a moment when you might have misunderstood your feelings? Leave me a voicemail at (413) 239-4158. Joe and I can unpack it confidentially in one of our episodes and maybe, maybe offer a different and helpful perspective!

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]

It’s summer summer summertime! I hope you’ve already begun relaxing. If you’re looking for ways to reflect on your year, consider re-listening to other TTE podcast episodes. There’s lots of food for thought here just waiting for you!

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Co-Host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

We knew it was going to happen even if we couldn’t imagine it: The school year is coming to an end. And so is Season 3 of Teaching through Emotions.

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Huzzah! Congratulations to all for making it through another crazy year!

Speaking of crazy years: In this episode, Joe and I review some of this year’s craziness. We share some facts and lots of strong personal opinions about them. And we invite you to weigh in! What did we get wrong? What was crazy for you this year? What are you looking forward to this summer? How are you going to rejuvenate before the new school year begins? We’d love to hear from you!

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

We discuss

* Prejudice and Oppression: the state of our federal government’s influence on education

* What’s Good? What’s Bad?: constantly feeling out the magic line between opposing stances in the classroom

* TTE Updates: reviewing Season 3, your favorite episodes, and what we are working on plus what we’re releasing this summer

* Important Bonus: how to say “effin’” in Spanish

Connect & Share

Got a story to share? What was crazy for you this year? I’d love to hear! Leave me a voicemail at (413) 239-4158 and we might feature your perspective in a future episode!

Or send me an email! [email protected]

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

External links

Joe does talk about furries and litter boxes in schools (as he mentions) in this TTE episode: The Meowing Student: Understanding weird behavior in the classroom.

Here’s the book I taught that has a conservative take on school reform in our country: Left Back: A Century of Battles over School Reform by Diane Ravitch (who has since flipped to the progressive side).

Joe’s favorite episode: To Care or To Detach?: Finding the emotional balance in teaching

One of Betsy’s favorite episodes (and our listeners’ favorite): Handling Teacher Guilt: Are you being too judgmental of yourself?

TTE merch (T-shirts, mugs, The Feeling of Teaching)

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Co-Host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

God knows I am no fundraiser. Actually, neither is my guest, Erin McQuade-Wright — at least, not anymore. Erin used to be a fundraiser for non-profits and even has a podcast called The Brave and Balanced Fundraiser (which shares psychodynamic wisdom on how to survive that difficult job). But now she’s a coach who helps people of all types live vital lives. (Her company is called Vitalist Coaching.) In this episode, Erin and I talk about our areas of overlap (hint: it’s a large region) and revel in our delight in talking about emotion work, healthy relationships, and the wisdom of psychodynamics.

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

We discuss

* Personality Types: Enneagrams and their usefulness in learning about ourselves

* Somatic Knowing: Brain vs. body knowledge and the half-life of an emotion

* Emotional Lives: How much emotion is allowed in a classroom? How can we manage big emotions? How can we turn difficult feelings into freedom and space to be real?

* Definition of Self-Care: How dealing with negative emotions helps us fill up so we can be present and resilient

* Nourishment Barriers: How are you resistant to joy and why is that bad for you?

* How Does Burnout Work for You? Are you singing the burnout song with a chorus of colleagues?

Connect & Share

Got a story to share? How are you managing your emotions at this point in the school year? I’d love to hear! Leave me a voicemail at (413) 239-4158 and we might feature your perspective in a future episode!

Or send me an email! [email protected]

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

External links

Enneagram

HeartMath Institute

Vitalist Coaching

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Co-Host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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 & Share

Got 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]

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

External links

Radical Love: Rethinking care and professional love in the classroom

Pedagogy Basics: What educators can learn from early childhood teachers

Dream Keepers: Comic Edition

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Co-Host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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 & Share

Got 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/subscribe

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

External links

Trust-Based Observations (the book)

Trust-Based Observation (the website)

[email protected]

EMDR: Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Co-Host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout