Teaching through Emotions: Teacher Mental Health

When I first worked as a therapist in a local public mental health agency, I tended to wake up around 4 a.m. every workday. With the jitters. Or, more generally, with inescapable anxiety about the coming day. What would come at me? Could I handle it? Did I actually know what I was doing? It is of course normal to feel this way about jobs that involve humans, who are so unpredictable! First-day jitters are no exception. But so are second-day jitters, and third-day, and eightieth-day jitters. Stuff can happen in a classroom (and therapy office) that suddenly throws you off your game and shakes your confidence as a teacher. What do you do when teacher anxiety hits on any day of the school year? That’s what today’s episode is about. We discuss * Going Out-of-Body: What causes us to decenter and how to get back in control of ourselves and our classroom management * The Emotional Rollercoaster: How easy it is to get on and how hard it can be to get off, and what that means for teacher stress * Chasing Popularity: Student evaluations of faculty and how they affect teacher mental health * Mirroring: How and when to respond to incorrect answers and inappropriate comments Great stuff for every teacher to think about, from first-year teachers to college faculty! External links Donald A. Schön, The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action Teaching through Emotions What type of teacher are you? Take the quiz! Connect & Share Got a story to share? What takes you out of your body? What gets you back in? 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 Credits: Founder and Host: Betsy Burris Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision Podcast Editor: Jasper Chua Theme Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout Interstitial Music: Brad Wells Chapters: 00:00 Featured in Apple Podcasts 01:18 Nerves the Night Before Teaching 03:48 Check-In: Week Two of the Semester 07:27 A 25-Minute Meeting in the Wrong Room 12:48 Enrollment Pressure and FactTrack 18:04 Teaching as a Popularity Contest 20:38 What Pulls You Out of Your Body 22:59 Whispering Students and a Sea of Faces 25:40 Bluffing Through an AI Policy 29:57 Getting Back by Leveling With Students 32:34 Correct It in Front of Everyone? 35:04 Reflecting in Action and Mirroring 38:01 Takeaways: Slow Down, Just Notice 41:20 Sasha a Month Later: Body Snatching 44:38 Recap and Next Episode: Disruptive Boys 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

Ah, rudeness. Most college professors do not expect it from their students (or from anybody). The hierarchy in colleges and universities is pretty clear, and the stakes of messing with it are generally high for students. So what do you do when a student tells you to wait while they finish typing their text? In other words, how does student rudeness affect teacher mental health? Even if you handle the student effectively in the moment, what if you feel bad about it afterwards? Teacher mental health (everyone's mental health) includes surviving boundary hangover, or the regret that can follow doing the right interpersonal thing. In this episode, we hear some college professors in a Teacher Support Group wrestle with this very thing: setting an appropriate boundary and feeling bad about it afterwards. We discuss - Who's in Charge: What to do when the authority structure gets flipped upside down - The Class Placeholder: The possible ramifications when students scramble to change their course schedule - Student Distractions: Do students need help fitting into your classroom reality? - The Teacher Ego: Why it's crucial to teacher mental health - Objectification: What the antidote is to the common experience of being turned into an object for someone else's use You don't have to be a college professor to relate to this story! High school teachers, elementary and pre-school teachers, even parents: everyone who interacts with other people, especially members of Gen Z, can benefit from hearing how these teachers work through their reactions to student rudeness. Teacher mental health is crucial. Check it out! External linksTeaching through Emotions: https://www.teachingthroughemotions.com/What type of teacher are you? Take the quiz! https://tally.so/r/WOx5vR Connect & ShareGot a story to share? What shockingly rude behaviors have you encountered in your 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 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 BurrisProducer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision (https://pod.vision/)Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision (https://pod.vision/)Podcast Editor: Jasper ChuaTheme Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering TroutInterstitial Music: Brad Wells 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

Welcome to Season 4 of Teaching through Emotions, a podcast about teacher mental health! We are excited to drop the first episode just a few days before World Teachers Day (https://www.unesco.org/en/days/teachers). October 5th is the day devoted every year to honoring educators the world over, specifically to draw attention to: - Teachers' rights and responsibilities - Standards for teacher education - Expectations for teacher recruitment and employment - Requirements for teaching and learning conditions Consider Teaching through Emotions our paean to teachers and our regular commemoration of World Teachers Day! In this episode, you will meet some of the members of TTE's High School TSG: Ann, Kim, Elizabeth, and Jane. Just one week into the school year, they talk about - Catastrophizing: What it is, why teachers spiral into worst-case thinking, and what to do about anxious thoughts and negative self-talk - Body Snatching: Noticing and fighting against other people's unwelcome emotions like stress, frustration, and impatience - Self-Regulating: Sharing ways to calm down even in the heat of the moment, with practical emotional regulation and stress management strategies for teacher mental health - Stop Over-optimizing!: Or, to put it positively, Under-optimize! Let go of perfectionism to lower the pressure and prevent early-year teacher burnout - First Week of School: How the first week back can be difficult even for veteran teachers These are experienced teachers who are being honest about the tough emotions and experiences they had in the first week of school and share ways to combat them and protect their teacher mental health. With care and humor. I think you'll relate. Connect & ShareGot a story to share? How was your first week (or month) of school this year? How do you deal with overwhelm and panic? 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 CreditsFounder and Host: Betsy BurrisProducer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision (https://pod.vision/)Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision (https://pod.vision/)Podcast Editor: Jasper ChuaTheme Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering TroutInterstitial Music: Brad Wells 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

Season 4 of Teaching through Emotions is about to drop (on October 1st)! And it’s different. Really different. In past seasons, I’ve shared teacher stories, many with my wonderful co-host, Joe Johnson. Here’s the most popular one from Season 3, btw: Handling Teacher Guilt: Are you being too judgmental of yourself? All of these teacher stories came from Teacher Support Groups or work I did with individual teachers. All of them were told by me. This season, we’re taking you right to the heart of TTE’s work. We’re cutting me out as the storyteller. Instead, we’re letting actual teachers tell their stories! That is, we’re recording TSGs and bringing teachers’ experiences to you fresh from their TSG meetings. Speaking of which, looking to join a TSG? Contact me. I’ll put together a group of teachers from all over the world (if need be) to meet regularly online to talk about — and change — the realities of teaching. Listen to the trailer and share it with your colleagues! your teacher friends! your other friends! The stuff we talk about is specific to teaching but valuable to anyone who’s in a relationship. Stuff like * Becoming overwhelmed even at the very beginning of the school year * Handling Gen Z device-enhanced rudeness * Dealing with AI * Setting crucial boundaries with students, colleagues, and parents — and surviving “boundary hangover” and so much more. Credits Founder and Host: Betsy Burris Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision Podcast Editor: Jasper Chua of PodVision Music: 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

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. 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