Building relationships with parents and carers can be really hard as a teacher  Relationships with parents and carers. 

Tricky right? 

Some of them are lovely, easy to get along with. Others imposing, tricky or just down right scary!? 

And yet, there are two whole focus areas in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers dedicated to how we build and use our relationships with parents and careers to increase our impact on our students. 

The Education Endowment Foundation over in the United Kingdom, recently reviewed the research literature on this topic as it searched for answers to the question. How do I create relationships with parents and carers that increase the impact for my students. 

It revealed that although 80% of school leaders felt that it was the responsibility of ALL Staff to build these relationships... 

Less that 10% of teacher said they’d ever had any training in how to build and maintain meaningful relationships with parents. 

So, you’re not alone if this all feels like a mystery to you. 

In this week’s episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast with Selena Woodward we’re going to start by evaluating the WHY.  Why do we need or want to build these relationships? 

We share 5 key reasons that schools should invest the time to upskill teachers and give you some case studies, found in this research, to set you off on a journey of discovery. 

There are suggestions here for lead projects at your site and opportunities for our Highly Accomplished teachers to share some expert knowledge with their colleagues. 

We explore parent and carer relationships for: 

• Improving educational outcomes by giving parents the support they need to help children learn 
• Safeguarding children 
• Improving attendance at your site 
• Building trust and respect so you can get to know your students better
• Increasing the resources available to you as an educator. 

We also share two case studies. One in Primary and one in Secondary and explore the differences these little tweaks made to literacy scores and more. 

Can social media really be used as evidence in my AITSL teacher portfolio? 

 Many educators use social media to share, practice and connect with other educators. Building a following on social media platforms like Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, tick tock and more. Can be fun. But is it damaging to your career progression? 

It's easy to understand why there is so much fear about being a teacher online and talking about what you do every single day. However, millions of educators around the globe are using social media, with great success to develop, a professional learning network (pln) of educators they can rely upon to help them improve their practice. 

You could say that engaging in a professional teaching network on a social media platform, means that you are connecting with “external professionals” to “broaden your knowledge and practice as a teacher” (Grad 7.4). Yes, these words come directly from standard 7.4. In fact, the reason that we have social media widgets all over the Edufolios teacher portfolio platform is because social media is a fantastic opportunity to engage in such professional development. 

What if social media? Is actually a place to find professional communities. And engage in “forums”? 

In today's episode of the Reflective Teacher Podcast, we talk about social media and 7.4. I provide three things that you can try, right now, to increase your engagement in these professional learning networks and find evidence for 7.4. We include conversations about tweetups, Facebook groups and sharing tips via reels and stories. 

Whether you're at university trying to demonstrate that you understand where professional learning opportunities might show themselves in professional learning networks, or you're a highly accomplished educator who wishes to contribute to professional networks in order to build productive links with a wider community to improve teaching and learning, this episode is full of tips for you. 

Make sure you head to the YouTube video shown below and add your Twitter, Instagram, Reddit. Facebook groups, etc. Don't miss the party that is happening over on YouTube as we all help each other to engage in a large online professional learning network. 

Looking forward to liking following and learning from each and every single person who chooses to engage in this wonderful opportunity. 

Engagement? If your lesson isn’t about TIK TOK or Fortnite you might as well give up. 

How are your students doing right now?  How is their level of engagement? Their ability to tune in, to get excited about what you’re learning together?  

I ask because, over and over again, I am hearing that it’s getting harder and harder to keep students focused and engaged in learning. When kids aren’t engaging it makes it much harder for us to help them grow their skills.  Much harder for us to understand what’s working and what they need. In fact, you could argue that engagement is the first ingredient you need to get right in order to begin any process of growth and impact as a teacher. 

So, what can we do to help?  Does engaging students in learning really mean that everything has to be, in some way connected to TikTok or Fortnite? Is that all they care about? 

What if our students just need a little tweak in our perception of what “engagement” actually is. 

 Let’s start by asking the question 

“What does student engagement look like?” 

Most teachers will tell me it's when students are “on task”.  Maybe it’s a quiet classroom where everyone is busy.   If you walk into a classroom and every student looks like they’re busy learning, then you are on to a winner. 

I can totally understand why you might see it that way.  Engagement can look like that. It probably looked a lot like that when we were at school.  Being quiet and focusing was always encouraged as the gold standard of learning.   

But, here’s a secret... if we see engagement as “busy” and “on task” then there’s a real danger that what looks awesome... Is actually NOT learning at all.  

Yep.. Read that again 

What looks like engagement could actually be the opposite of good learning. 

Why? Because learning can be messy, noisy, disruptive, and social.   

I know you know all of this. 

I also know we are all tired. 

So are the kids. 

So, in this episode of the Reflective Teacher Podcast we’re going to hit the reset button.   

We’re going to remind ourselves what engagement REALLY is... (clue: It’s NOT compliance). 

And I’m going to share some practical strategies you can use... right now to tweak “engagement” and measure the impact of those tweaks. 

Are you finding it hard to keep your students motivated and engaged right now?

With all the stresses out there, it's even more important to find ways to help our students connect to their passions and values. We need to consider what research and skills we can employ to increase engagement. Increasing meaningful engagement in our lessons will then give us more opportunities to have a strong impact on our students' outcomes.

Right now, some of our students are overwhelmed by the big, wicked problems that surround them in the world. With war In Europe, COVID across the world, fires, floods, and global warming. They are really feeling an urgent need to make a difference. And yet, they are also feeling completely overwhelmed.

Is our current education system, our current way of working, supporting them to have the skills they need to break down these big problems? Helping them to understand their value and their values. Are enabling them to understand their world and make a plan to make the difference they want to see?

How can you support them, as a classroom teacher, in developing these life-changing skills?

With more and more people turning to entrepreneurial lifestyles, building businesses, and solving the problems they are passionate about, it's time to consider how entrepreneurial education could be the most important step you can take in 2022 to increase student engagement and efficacy

Feresh Pizarro and Dee Edwards have been working at the Flinders New Venture Institute to create resources to support teachers to bring the entrepreneurial mindset into their classrooms. In collaboration with Flinders New Venture Institute, eNVIsion Barossa Yorke Mid North, Feresh Pizarro Education Consultancy, and with funding from the Federal Department of Education, Skills and Employment Entrepreneurship Facilitator Service, they have created some amazing resources and opportunities for teachers to use right now to solve this big problem of student engagement.

Their 'Entrepreneurial Teacher Practice Guide and tools are available for you to use right now to help you make real-world connections between the content that you are teaching in the Australian curriculum and the big, “wicked problems” that your students long to solve.

By developing new skills in creativity, resilience, problem solving, value creation, critical thinking, divergent and convergent thinking, Feresh, Dee and their team, have created a powerhouse of resources and opportunities for each and every one of us. Resources to help us reinvigorate our curriculum with the skills our students need to increase their own impact in the world.

They even have a professional development opportunity available to you in this Easter school holidays. See the links below paragraph

Tune into this episode of the Reflective Teacher Podcast to learn how this entrepreneurial teacher practice can help you and your students develop new engaging lessons that help and empower your students to solve. Wicked problems and he really deeply engaged in the learning.

Head to edufolios.org/podcast for show notes links and more episodes of the Reflective Teacher Podcast!

 

You've been trying your hardest to get your evidence sorted for teacher accreditation. Countless hours going over those AITSL teacher standards and trying to connect them to what you do in the classroom and you still feel no happier about the evidence you've gathered for accreditation😒 You're tired. You're loosing confidence and you're over it! What if, we could change everything? There are three common mistakes that educators make when they start building their evidence of practice in their teacher portfolio. Are you making them? Tune in to find out.

For all the show notes from todays episodes and useful links to more support with teacher accreditation, head to Edufolios.org.

Grab a free trial to our Teacher Portfolio creation software at Edufolios.org

 

Got a looming Curiosity about Teacher Portfolios and Accreditation?​ Have you ever felt a looming curiosity about teacher portfolios? You know you're going to need one for teacher accreditation at some stage so you start to wonder "how do I build one of those?" Google brings up products for you to try (Edufolios is one of them - of course!) and you've even found some examples to scroll through. You join some Facebook groups too and start asking around but still... it doesn't feel any better.

What if the question "How do I build a Teacher Portfolio?" is part of your problem?

​ I am curious.. What is it that you are really looking for when you type "How do I build a Teacher Portfolio?" into your search engine?

Are you looking for a tool that will build you a website?

Are you looking to have someone share their story of HOW they built theirs?

What do you feel, right now, about the process?

What's driving you to ask that question?

Are you getting the answers that you actually need?

Creating evidence of practice is often coupled with a lot of questions isn't it? Well, in this episode of The Reflective Teacher Podcast with Selena Woodward, we're going to help you get the answers that your ACTUALLY NEED to move forward with your evidence gathering. Instead of focusing on what you're going to build it in... Today, we're going to explore what you need to "understand" in order to be successful with your evidence. What knowledge is a pre-requisite to helping you to develop your skills as a teacher as you build your teacher portfolio and get it ready for submission.

Tune in to:

- Consider your level of knowledge of the Teaching Standards

- Understand the impact of not knowing them well

- Learn the questions that you REALLY need to be asking as you build your teacher portfolio

- Find out where to get the answers to the problems that are Really holding you back as you build you teacher portfolio.

At Edufolios.org you'll find everything you need to support you with teacher accreditation and teacher portfolio creation.

Join Edufolios to take advantage of our amazing evidence building tools, resources and training.

Find the videos of our podcast over on our Edufolios YouTube Channel!

If the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers seems alien to me... I must be a bad teacher.  Right? 

We’ve all been there.  You start with the intention of exploring how to complete the teacher accreditation process.  You head to the AITSL website or explore the documentation on your local teachers registration boards website.  The Rubric for the standards looms before you and the thoughts start to pop up, one by one in your mind. 

“I don’t know what this is asking me for” 

Becomes 

“Why don’t you understand this? Aren't you a teacher?” 

Becomes 

“You can’t be very good at your job if this doesn’t make sense to you” 

Becomes  

“what if I'm NOT good at my job?” 

Becomes 

“I’m garbage at this!” 

And it all turns into one massive, overwhelming, confusing, terrifying place that you just don’t have time for right not. 

You justify this with thoughts like “I’m busy enough.”, “I hate the fact they expect me to do this EXTRA work”, “It’s a waste of time..” etc. 

Does that resonate with you?  Have you ever found yourself suddenly surrounded by negative thoughts that build and build until your stood in the middle of a very uncomfortable mind storm? It’s Not a nice place to be is it? 

Did you know that every time a negative thought pops into your head, if you don’t address it, your brain adds to it... every 20 seconds! No wonder it becomes overwhelming and you feel like you’re being chased by an AITSL shaped bear... one with big sharp claws. 

What if we did stop, take notice and choose to find the next best thinking thought? 

This week, I’ve been inspired by some work I was doing with my son and some of things I’ve heard from you during my calls for the Evidence Engine competition we have open right now. 

This week, we’re talking about WHY these thoughts pop up and what they might be trying to tell you. I’m coming along as a ray of sunshine to move these clouds of discomfort away and help you see the wood for the trees.   
 

along as a ray of sunshine to move these clouds of discomfort away and help you see the wood for the trees. 

Do you feel qualified to help someone else through the teacher accreditation process? Every single teacher in Australian has to go through the teacher accreditation process at some point.  Whether that’s at university (as they learn their craft) or to show they can meet the proficient strand, we’re all required to keep developing our skills and measuring our impact. Teaching is a profession. A profession requires accountability. The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers provide a framework for that accountability.  The teaching standards are also pretty intimidating and the process to demonstrate your impact can be confusing.  So, it’s no wonder that so many of us are left in a position where we find it hard to help others.

Sarah joined the evidence engine because she wanted to find a community of educators who understood where she was at with her accreditation journey.  Teachers she could connect with and share ideas with.  The Evidence Engine™ was the perfect place for that.

Coupled with it’s step by step guides and a clear focus on her impact, what she learnt during the course helped her to move from fearful to empowered.

What if there was an online course that gave you the exact steps you need to move from overwhelmed to empowered?

“Before I started, there's no way I would have had the confidence to try and help anyone in this area. I was completely fearful and felt like I would never understand it. To go from that to actively helping people with their accreditation is huge”

Join us for this week’s episode where, Montessori educator Sarah Bazylenko shares her journey through accreditation to highly accomplished and what the Evidence Engine meant to her. We talk about:

• What her challenges were are she worked towards the Highly Accomplished accreditation process
• Why a community of like-minded educators was really important to her progress
• How the tools inside of the Evidence Engine have helped her to mentor someone going through LEAD... whilst she works toward HA!
• How the Evidence Engine changed the way she plans to gather her evidence for HA and why that has made things MUCH easier for her.
• The importance of learning WHEN to ask HOW to ask for authentic evidence from your colleagues (so that you can show the impact you are having on them) without it feeling weird!
• How the mindset shift in the Evidence Engine removed the pressure and created a clearer pathway for success.

Teachers are not allowed to show they’re in the Pit of despair...  We can’t afford to make mistakes and grow...  

 

Growth Mindset has become a really important piece of the pedagogical puzzle for us.  Teacher everywhere are sharing the “pit of despair” with their students and encouraging them to dive right in.   

We know that to learn and grow, there has to be some discomfort as we push through a big phase of development.   We know that our kids can shape their minds however they want to.  That neuro plasticity is real and we can help them to shape themselves into anything they want to be. 

Yet. If we ask YOU whether, as a professional, how you handle that same “pit of des[pair” what would you say? 

Do you avoid it completely? 

Would it make you less on a teacher if you were struggling? 

And yet... I bet there are times when a voice in your head tells you that lesson was rubbish, that you don’t know how to handle that class... that there’s no way you're ready to apply for that next career stage... 

It’s time to explore how reflective practice can help You to focus on your Purpose and reframe your mindset away from stress.  

 

This is one of my absolute favourite episodes. I’m genuinely really excited to share it with you. 

This week, I am joined by the amazing Jen Rafferty, founder of Empowered Educator. And we’re going deep.  

Jen Rafferty started her teaching career as a middle school teacher in Central New York for 15 years. She founded Empowered Educator in 2020 as a response to teacher burnout during the pandemic. Jen is known for bringing her energy, humour and expertise in her presentations while inspiring educators to stay connected to their "why." Jen is a certified Emotional Intelligence Practitioner and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology.   

She’s doing some amazing work with teachers to help them understand how their view of the world is shaped.  She's showing us how we have complete agency and control over the stress and how to use reflective practice to move to a powerful place of growth and development (for ourselves and our kids!) 

We talk about 

• How you can leverage your own neuroplasticity to change how you show up in your classroom for the better 
• The importance of stopping and reflecting to NOTICE and grow 
• What the research shows about the benefits of writing and reflective practice for your mental health 

• Why teacher wellbeing CAN NOT be all yoga and bubble baths 
• The meaning we choose to make of teacher accreditation and how that meaning could be holding you back. 
• Using Breath to snap yourself out of fight and flight 
• Toxic positivity vs Reflection and growth and much more!  

Do not miss this one! It’s rich with opportunities for really BIG aha moments!  

Don’t forget to reach out and let us know your takeaways!  Subscribe to us on YouTube and don’t miss a single episode or bonus! 

Is it possible to beat the overwhelming feeling of the teacher accreditation process?

Have you ever felt overwhelmed and lost in the teacher accreditation process? 

The pressure of working with the requirements, of proving yourself and completing the paperwork feels like WAY too much. Right? 

You’re not alone.   

This is something that I hear all the time, something we’ve all felt as we work outside of our comfort zone to evaluate our practice and shine a light on what we do every single day in our classrooms 

The more you focus on the process, the requests, the gaps, the artefacts, the evidence sets, the teacher standards, the more you start to feel like you are drowning.  That awful feeling in the pit of your stomach as your pulse races and you begin to hear a voice that tells you this is all too much and you’re NOT READY for this. 

Your mindset shifts into a place that actually starts to get in your way and you begin to put up barriers to your career progression.  Everywhere.... 

It’s the same thing your kids do when faced with a hard assignment.  Do you recognize it? What do you say to them when they have these moments? Are you saying these same encouraging things to yourself? Are you giving yourself the time and space to have some grace here?  

Let’s PAUSE for a moment shall we and explore what actually happening there. Can we shift it? 

This week, I am joined by Jaeden Schafer of “Self- Pause” who shares some awesome research and resources around affirmation and meditation.  Resources that he has kindly offered to give our listeners for FREE for a limited time.   

What’s happening when you start to get that overwhelming feeling is a flight response. Your body doesn’t like what’s happening and it’s pushing you away from your uncomfortable goals back to what it think is safe and easy. You’ve stopped focusing on your values as an educator.  You need to stop and remember them! 

Jaedan invites us to explore the possibilities of tuning back into WHY you’re making this choice to move forward with your career, WHY you want to be a teacher and WHERE you want to see yourself in the next few months 

By creating affirmations and playing the 3.6,9 game with us, this episode is going to help you to kick goals in all aspects of your career. Let's take just 5 minutes every day to complete an affirmation meditation help you to remove stress and anxiety and practice being who you want to be. 

Jaeden has even offered us Self-Pause Premium for free for 2 months!  
1. Download the Selfpause app and sign up for an account.  
2. Visit the promo code page on our website: https://selfpause.com/promo/ 
3. Type in your account email and the Pin Code: fem 
 
Please note: *you do not need to sign up for a subscription on the app*. Simply create an account and the website above can be used to upgrade your account. 

Make sure you share your affirmations with us as we go on this journey to calm and manifestation together.