Step into the teacher's lounge with our latest podcast episode! We're diving deep into the art of reflection for new teachers. Tune in to explore three powerful strategies to celebrate successes, identify areas for growth, and acknowledge achievements. Join the conversation as we unravel the key to unlocking success in the new year. Don't miss out on valuable insights to elevate your teaching journey! Subscribe now for more enriching episodes. #ReflectAsANewTeacher #TeacherPodcast #NewYearSuccess
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Step into the teacher's lounge with our latest podcast episode! We're diving deep into the art of reflection for new teachers. Tune in to explore three powerful strategies to celebrate successes, identify areas for growth, and acknowledge achievements. Join the conversation as we unravel the key to unlocking success in the new year. Don't miss out on valuable insights to elevate your teaching journey! Subscribe now for more enriching episodes. #ReflectAsANewTeacher #TeacherPodcast #NewYearSuccess
Download the Ultimate Elementary Teacher Answer Guide: https://thepresentteacher.com/firstyearteacherchecklist
Join The Present Teacher Circle: https://thepresentteacher.com/present-teacher-circle/
Classroom Kickstart Setup: https://thepresentteacher.com/mini-course/
Land Your Dream Job: https://thepresentteacher.com/interview/
Leaving Work on Time: https://thepresentteacher.com/ontime/
Join the Community: https://thepresentteacher.com/community
Follow me on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thepresentteacher?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
Follow me on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thepresentteacher/
Hello there, teacher Bestie, and welcome back to the present teacher. Today we're going to be talking about reflection. It's that new year time of year and it's a great time to start reflecting on what is going well and what isn't, so we can start moving forward and taking the lessons we learned in the last year to get ourselves off even further in the upcoming year. So join me today as I break down how to reflect as a teacher and what steps to take, what questions to ask yourself and I get super honest and raw about my own personal answers to these questions as an example on how this reflection can go for you. All right, so that means that let's dive right in. Hey, teacher Bestie, my name is Helena and I'm the creator of the present teacher podcast. I'm a first year teacher coach and in this podcast you are going to learn everything from simple, actual classroom management, social learning and teacher wellness strategies. You know that impact you want to make in the classroom, or we're going to make it happen here. So here are some questions that you're going to want to ask yourself as you start reflecting as a new teacher. The first question you're going to want to ask yourself is what are three things that went well in the last year. This is an easy it's really easy to focus on the negative, but it's important to note what's going well so you can continue doing that in the new year. So take some time to either start journaling, listening to a little bit of music reflecting out loud in the car, or maybe in your classroom at home in a journal. But take some time to answer this question. What are three things that went well for me in the last year? Here are my personal three things that went well in the past year. The first one is I did really well at separating my students' behavior and my personal reaction. Now, in the years past, I was easily upset or frustrated or angered or dysregulated by the behavior of my students in my classroom, but this year I have done such a better job at separating my worth to how my students are reacting or responding in the classroom. And honestly, here's the deal.
Speaker 1:As teachers, we often tie our self-worth to how our students are behaving and while, yes, it's important to have really good classroom management skills, it's also important to note that you can't always control kids. Granted, you can set them up, set themselves up or set them up for success, provide it in an amazing environment, be proactive when it comes to behavior. But at the end of the day, how they decide to act in the classroom is really up to them. So it's really important to be able to separate yourselves and remind yourself that when a student is dysregulated or partaking in disruptive behavior, it has no reflection on you and it has everything to do with a situation or an environment or a thing that the student is going through. And it's important for you to be able to regulate yourself in order to help that student work through whatever is happening, whatever they're trying to work through. So good classroom management doesn't always come from controlling kids. It's actually how you are proactive in the classroom and how you prevent disruptive behavior from happening in the first place.
Speaker 1:This year, like I said, I did a great job of separating my identity and my worth as the teacher to my students' behavior. So the first question you want to ask yourself are three things that went well. The second thing that went well for me was that my classroom systems were on par this year. So let's talk about what classroom systems are. Systems are the way that you run your classroom on autopilot without having to think about it. Think of this like a car. When it's running right and you don't have to think about it, you can drive it with much more ease and you can show up to work every day not worrying about breaking down on the side of the road. You can go and treat yourself to your favorite coffee and drive in the mountains. Take a drive in the mountains to go snow showing True story. I did that this last weekend. It was a lot of fun, highly recommend.
Speaker 1:But either way, when you have a well-oiled machine or a well-oiled car or a working car, it's much easier to get to where you need to go without worrying about it. Well, the same goes with teaching. When you have things like grading, lesson planning, preping, communication, data collection all of these systems running smoothly, you don't have to think about it and you have that freedom to teach with ease and without having to think about all the million things you have to get to get it going. So if this is something you want to learn more about, I plan on sharing a lot more about classroom systems here on side of this channel, so make sure to subscribe and follow along to find out more about this. But this year I did a great job of being at least a month ahead, so that way if I got sick I had a sub. I had to cover somebody on my prep. It wasn't that big of a deal, because I was able to be that teacher that I wanted to be and have fun teaching while being working ahead. This year was definitely fun, and this was thanks to being able to have those classroom systems running in the background so that way I can just enjoy my job as a teacher.
Speaker 1:The third thing that really went well for me was that I was able to leave work at work. Now, this is something that I worked on a lot over the last couple of years, but the truth is, this year I felt like I finally left my work at work without feeling guilty about it. That's not saying that you don't, that you have to not bring work home, but here's the reality. I love my business, I love showing up here on the present teacher and I need to figure out a way to make teaching easier, and by doing so, that has provided me the time and space to show up here on this platform, to spend more time showing up here, sharing all my strategies and loving on the community that we have built together here on this platform, so something that I will never stop doing, but it made me a better doc, mom. This has made me a better wife, friend, family member and help more people is learning how to save time and do more things faster so I can show up and do the things that I love. The amount of people that I have connected with over the last year and been able to serve, and the teachers that I've been able to share resources with over here on this platform has honestly been so fulfilling and I am so incredibly grateful. And this leaving work at work has definitely changed my life for the better and it's something I want to continue doing in the future.
Speaker 1:So, as a recap, the first thing that you want to do when you are reflecting as a teacher is you want to think about what are three things that you have done well, what has gone well for you in the past. The second thing you want to think about, or the second question, is what are three things you can improve on? Now that we have answered the three things that are what went well, the next step is a cup over reflecting on what are three things that you want to improve on in the new year. This will help you know which areas in your life you want to work on, and you can use these three things that you talk about or you reflect on to help you set goals for the new year. So take some time to reflect on this question. Figure out the top three areas that you want to improve on in the new year.
Speaker 1:So here are three things that I personally could improve on based off of last year. So the first one is spending time with friends and families my family While I don't bring work home anymore, like I talked about earlier. I need to start working on creating boundaries with my community here and my personal life, because here's the truth I love what I do so much and it's easier for me to get hyper focused on showing up on all the different platforms and showing up for this community into work all hours of the day. That's why, in the new year, I want to work on stopping my work as soon as Kyle gets home my husband, so I'm not pouring all of that time into this community, even though it is addicting for me.
Speaker 1:The second thing I want to work on in the new year is advocating for myself by saying no. Now, this is something that I've worked on a lot in years past and I've definitely gotten better, but it's I still felt obligated or guilty if I don't say yes to things, even though, at the end of the day, I do a much better job of saying no. A quote I heard is anything you say yes to, you're also saying no to something else. So that makes me think what are some things that I'm saying no to because I'm saying yes to other things? I love helping others and volunteering, but I have to remember what I want to prioritize in my life and keep that in front of me.
Speaker 1:The third thing that I want to improve on on in the new year is to respond to emails. Now, I'm calling myself out here, but have you ever responded to an email or text in your head and you totally forgot to type it out and then you didn't realize that you actually typed it out until a long time has passed? Yeah, that happens to me a lot, so that's why I want to make sure I keep my text messages and my inbox at a zero at the end of the day, because I forget to type out my responses because I've already responded in my head. So this is something I definitely want to work on moving forward going into the new year. So, as a recap, the two questions you want to ask yourself or ask yourself so far in the new year for reflection is one, what are three things that are going well? And two, what are three things you want to improve on Now? The third one is something I personally need to work on, which is what are three things that you are proud of Now?
Speaker 1:The third step to reflecting as a new teacher is to figure out why are you proud of yourself in the new year. It's so easy, if you're anything like me, to get wrapped up in improving yourself and in getting better that you forget to take a step back and reflect and celebrate. So take some time to actually write down or reflect out loud or in your mind, three things to celebrate that you are proud of. Here are the three things that I'm proud of in the last year. So the first one is sharing and creating resources that made my life easier.
Speaker 1:There are so many things this year that came natural to me or I struggled with and I came up with a system for me that I thought was easy for everyone else, like leaving work on time. I would look at my teachers and my coworkers and I would see them leaving work on time consistently at contract time, and I struggled with that my first two years and I thought, okay, I'm out of the loop, I don't know the secret. So I finally figured out a way to do it. But when I got on this platform, I realized that I wasn't the only one struggling with this and I had the ability to then share it with other people. And it was first kind of refreshing to find that I wasn't the only one that struggled with this, but then the fact that my years of trial and error and creating a system for me I could share with others and make their lives that much easier.
Speaker 1:Last year, in the last year, I really worked on creating resources for those teachers who want to guide, to show you how to make your life easier. For example, I created Land, your Dream job, which is for preparing for an interview in a single weekend with the confidence of knowing how to stand out from others. I learned this, or I created this, because when I started teaching, when I went for my first job interview, I was 21 years old with a master's degree and I felt super underqualified, even though I had a master's degree, because of my age. I needed to figure out a way to stand out from the crowd and to figure out my it factor. Once I figured that out, now I have something to share with you on how you can stand out from others and make yourself a prime candidate and to make other districts fall in love with you. That was one of the resources I came up with this year.
Speaker 1:The second one was setting up your classroom. The setting up your classroom for the school year was focusing on not just aesthetics but also on function, like the different areas to set up in your classroom, how to work on planning and to create a classroom management plan so you can start the year off strong. I created this because I was that teacher my first year. I focused entirely on my decorations that when my students came in, I had no idea what to teach. I didn't know how to manage a classroom. I created this resource after years of figuring out. There's more to setting up a classroom than just making it look good, although I do good looking classrooms, don't get me wrong, I have a Harry Potter classroom. Beside the point, I wanted to create a way or a resource for teachers to show them how to quickly, easy and without spending their entire summer or break, setting up their classroom in a short amount of time. The other resource I created was learning how to get all those items like grading, lesson planning, data collecting, communication, organization done quickly so you can get it done in 30 minutes to an hour a day with the present teacher circle.
Speaker 1:Honestly, in the last year I've created so many resources that I'm truly proud of and I am so, so, so excited to share with more teachers to help them save time and money in the end, because I want to help teachers love teaching and to stay in the teaching profession if they want to, and I feel like these resources that I've made in the last year have done that and I'm excited to share those with more people and help more teachers. So that's the first reason why I'm proud of myself. The second reason I'm proud of myself is I have been pretty consistent with my YouTube channel and my podcasting show. So one of the biggest things I saw in the teacher online community is it's hard to be able to be consistent with teaching and having an online present. While I'm by no means perfect, I am really proud of myself for the amount of weeks I've been consistent with the podcast and YouTube videos and weekly emails Honestly, something I want to continue into the next year, but I feel like I want to. What I have to share has honestly contributed to the conversation and I'm excited to continue to be a voice and resource for new teachers around the world in the new year. The third reason why I'm proud of myself is loving my students and being that teacher I know I'm capable of being.
Speaker 1:This one hits hard. So, honestly, in my first year of teaching, I didn't feel great about myself. I felt, in fact, I felt like a failure. If I'm being honest, I felt like I was so busy trying to do all the things that I missed out on actually making the impact I wanted to as a teacher. But, honestly, this year I have been able to visit and work with my old students from earlier this year and last year and see the impact that I've been able to make since choosing to be mindfully and present in the teaching world, and that has been life-changing. Honestly, with that, I want to give you some advice from something I have learned in the last year. Even though it may not feel like it, you have truly made an impact on your students' lives. Even on those days where you feel like you've failed, I'm here to tell you you haven't. One day you're gonna see those students who struggled academically or socially in your class and you're gonna see the progress that they made in the last year, and it's going to change your life and you're gonna have a moment where you're so grateful that you got to be a part of those kids' lives and make an impact and make a difference. With all that being said, I want to remind you to keep going, because the work you do truly matters. I promise you it does. So that wraps up how to reflect as a new teacher in the new year.
Speaker 1:Here are the three steps, or the three questions to ask yourself as you reflect on the new year, to help you set some goals. The first one is what are three things that went well this year? The second one is what are three things that you want to improve on or work on in the new year? The third question is what are three things that you are proud of? Don't miss that step, because that's to help you celebrate yourself Now.
Speaker 1:I hope you found this helpful. I would love it if you could share in the comments or send me a DM If you found this helpful what are you celebrating this year? And personally, this exercise was very helpful for me, so thank you for coming along the journey, and this is something I like to do every single year, so I hope it brings you clarity as you move forward into the new year. As always, remember we are stronger together and I will see you in the next one. Future, besty. Bye.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode. I hope that you were able to take away some value that will help you thrive inside and out of the classroom. It would mean the world to me if you could take five seconds right now and leave a review on this podcast. And if you found this podcast especially helpful, make sure to take a screenshot of this episode right now and tag me on your socials to let me know you're listening. As always, remember that we are stronger together, with all the love in the world. Helena, aka the President Teacher. See you next time, teacher Besty.