The Minimalist Educator Podcast
A podcast about paring down to focus on the purpose and priorities in our roles.
The Minimalist Educator Podcast
Episode 057: Revisiting Advocacy for Minimalism with Tammy and Christine
Could embracing minimalism and advocating for yourself transform your teaching and personal life? Join us as we promise to uncover how reducing unnecessary workloads and protecting personal time can lead to a more fulfilling and effective educational experience. Tammy Musiowsky-Borneman and Christine Arnold revisit a beloved discussion, spotlighting how involving students more actively in their learning can help educators maintain a healthier work-life balance. By recognizing our students' capabilities, we can create opportunities for productive struggle, lessen our stress, and improve student engagement. We'll share stories and strategies for aligning our teaching with minimalist principles that empower both educators and learners.
Teacher wellness and sustainability are at the heart of this episode, highlighting how prioritizing self-care can have a ripple effect on student well-being. With the ongoing challenge of substitute teacher shortages, the guilt of taking necessary sick days can be overwhelming, yet essential for maintaining effective practice. We explore the power of student-centered learning to alleviate pressures and foster a supportive classroom environment. By modeling wellness and advocating for our needs, we set a powerful example for our students and their families. Tune in and connect with our community on social media as we continue our journey toward simplicity and effectiveness in education.
Naomi Church, Chief Learning Officer at Growing Minds Consulting, is a speaker, author, experienced educator, and credentialed coach. She served in very large public school districts for almost 20 years as a Professional Development Specialist, Math intervention specialist, RtI Coordinator, Instructional Coach, and teacher leader. Naomi created a Mathematics for Struggling Learners training for the Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System (FDLRS) that is being implemented across the State of Florida. In her role as the Chief Learning Officer of Growing Minds Consulting, Naomi now works with schools, districts and departments of education to help make education more inclusive and equitable for all. As the President of Learning Forward Florida, Naomi is helping to re-envision professional learning for educators to maximize engagement, value and implementation. Naomi is passionate about professional learning and building capacity in teachers and families to increase student success.
Resources written by Naomi:
The Value of Choice Blog Post
The Homework Debate: What is the ‘Right’ Homework? Blog Post
Reteaching vs. Remediation Blog Post
Resources Naomi recommends:
Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics: 14 Teaching Practices for Enhancing Learning by Peter Liljedahl
Productive Math Struggle: A 6-Point action Plan for Fostering Perseverance by John SanGiovanni, Susie Klatt, Kevin Dykema
Math Fact fluency: 60+ Gam
Buy The Minimalist Teacher book on Amazon.
Follow on Instagram @PlanZEducation and @minimalist_ed_podcast.
The Minimalist Educator Podcast is a Plan Z Education Services adventure.
Welcome to the Minimalist Educator Podcast, a podcast about paring down to refocus on the purpose and priorities in our roles with co-hosts and co-authors of the Minimalist Teacher Book, Tammy Musiewski-Bornemann and Christine Arnold.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to today's episode of the podcast. It's Tammy and myself today. How are you going, Tammy?
Speaker 3:I am doing well. Thank you very much, Christine. How about you?
Speaker 2:I am good, I'm excited to share our second most popular episode of the podcast. Today we are sharing a revisit of episode 20, which was an episode just with you and I, tammy, about embracing minimalism and self-advocacy. What do you think grabbed everyone's attention about that title?
Speaker 3:Well, it's interesting because I was kind of surprised by this one, but then maybe I shouldn't be, because maybe it's the words self-advocacy, which we don't often do as educators.
Speaker 3:Honestly, I think that we, right, we tend to just kind of keep going and going and going and just doing things for other people, but in this episode we talk about some specific things to help advocate for ourselves and not like hard things honestly.
Speaker 3:Well, I guess they can feel hard, Like if we talk about protecting our time at home, for example, that can feel hard because you can, you know, you might sit down with your laptop and you're going to look at something that's like a personal thing or whatever, and then you get drawn into oh, let me just look at what's coming up next week at school, and so that can be one of those habits that you know, we just don't really think anything about it and then you know an hour later like, oh, my God, I wasn't even going to be do this right now. I was actually going to like plan my trip to wherever I got sidetracked by work, and so we have to be really careful about that time protection at home and I think you know, sometimes just talking about those things to protect ourselves is really important, and we don't do them very well sometimes. This is true.
Speaker 2:This is very true and I think another interesting thing that came up in this particular episode that I feel like we're starting to see a pattern emerging now when we're talking to people about how to be more of a minimalist, how to strategize and do less, and it's that theme of we've got to get the students more involved. It can't just be us, as the teacher, making all the decisions, doing all the work, all the thinking, all the talking. So that has come up with quite a few of our guests now and it comes up again in this episode as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that we really under not underappreciate, underestimate what students can do themselves because we spend so much time thinking about how can we scaffold the learning or how can I make this easier for them, scaffold the learning or how can I make this easier for them. But, honestly, we're stealing productive learning time and productive struggle from students when we do that and it makes more work for us. So this is something that I've been talking a lot with teachers about recently just what are the ways that you are making sure that the opportunities are open for students to do the things that they can do? Even when you think that they can't, they will surprise you and that is from you know skills or skills and routines, but also sometimes content, right?
Speaker 3:So, like, why spend time teaching something that your students already know? Like you're just wasting your time and it's it's a comfort thing for sure, cause we're like, well, I'm just following my plan and I'm, you know, moving along, but you're doing a disservice to yourself later on when you're like, oh, I should have cut that short, cause I need this time now later for this other thing that they aren't really getting and I know that's off a little bit from student agency. But it's like just thinking about the time use of. You know how we're using the time in the classroom and we can save a lot of time when we let kids take ownership more and realize that they can do more than we realize sometimes, for sure.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I think, as always, that important piece when it comes to self-advocacy is just reminding ourselves and each other to have these conversations, to talk about what we're doing, to try and manage the workload and have that work-life balance and be a little bit more intentional in what we're doing at school.
Speaker 3:I agree, and the accountability partners or, um, whoever you know your, your buddies at school and outside of work, are the people that you need to help carry you through, sometimes to give you that reminder like hey, you've been doing this for a long time, you've been like in your, in your hole of planning, where are you?
Speaker 2:We haven't seen you all day. Come out and see some people.
Speaker 3:Right and again, like time just flies when you're having fun or not. So just yeah, remembering to just prioritize yourself, because if you don't, no one else will and you're needed, right, and that's like not a guilt thing, it's just like that's the role you're in and people need you and they need you well, absolutely For sure in and people need you and they need you well, absolutely for sure.
Speaker 2:So, having said all of that, we hope you enjoy re-listening to episode 20, embracing Minimalism and Self-Advocacy. Hi everybody, and welcome to today's episode of the Minimalist Educator.
Speaker 3:I'm here with Tammy today. How are you, tammy? I'm pretty good, christine. I don't have any real complaints, which is sometimes unusual, right? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah, pretty good, pretty good. We are talking about advocating for minimalism today and hopefully inspiring others around us with some aims and aspirations in minimalism.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, because it can feel hard, as we've talked about you know a few times in our previous episodes last season, just how much we have to do, um, just how how much we have to do. But we really do need to advocate for the, not only the idea but the actions that we can take for just getting a little bit simpler, because things are just overly complicated sometimes and we lose sight of what it is, that what we're doing in our roles and what we're doing in our schools, and it feels it's just too much. And so if we can advocate for tearing down, refocusing on our priorities, it's going to be really beneficial to not only the educators in various roles in schools, for students, because then they know that you know we're not floundering around because of other things we can.
Speaker 2:actually, you know, they know that they're the focus rather than sometimes, you know teachers can drop the stress on the students without really meaning to because of you know that's what stress does exactly, and I think teaching is one of those professions where not only is it very busy, very hectic, whilst you're actually at work, but it's very common and presumed normal to work in the evenings and work on weekends and work in your vacation time, and I know that that adds to a lot of overwhelm, a lot of fatigue, a lot of stress for people that it's not just while you're at work, it continues on and you really have to fight for your own time and your own lifestyle.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's definitely true. One of the things that we try to advocate for our teachers at our little school is to do, you know, we really do pack the days, of course, because that's a school day, but we do really try to have, you know, support our teachers the days, of course, because that's a school day, but we do really try to have, you know, support our teachers and not taking things home or as little as possible. So we do have teachers that will, and you know, a little bit, before the early start of 7, 30, get themselves started and acquainted with the day and and some planning and then really just leave at that end time at three o'clock or three, you know, slightly after three, and people are pretty good with that and it makes a big difference. So people aren't hanging out in the building for endless hours and it does actually help that for us it's a shared space. So there's sometimes when we just can't be there.
Speaker 3:So we have to be thoughtful about the time that we are in the building and cause, you know, sometimes there are those things that when you're planning things, you need to go and get prepared and things like that, but when you actually can't be in the space it's. It's almost a blessing, because then you're forced out. Um, you know you can't do the same things at home, so you just kind of have to let it go and realize that it will be there tomorrow. Fine, um, and it, and it always is. You know, we try not to make anything like overly a big deal. If something's not quite right, it's fine yeah it's.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you struggle with this, but sometimes if I'm, you know, leaving and I feel like, you know, maybe I've hung around a little bit longer than usual, and then I go and see other teachers still in the in the building, you know, I might give them a little like, hey, it's five, it's 5, 30, let's 5.30, let's go Everyone. You know time to go, but I do feel like you know, these are adults, they have their own, you know decision-making faculties and you know, maybe they don't need me to come and scoot them out of the building. How do you fall with that sort of thing? Do you try and encourage people to go home or do you leave them to their own devices?
Speaker 3:Yeah, most people are pretty good with leaving soon and that was just from the beginning. Like you don't have to stay super long hours, like, try to just be here. You know 730 to three, those are the hours for teachers and there's planning time and, you know, during specials and things like that. So teachers are really good about using their time efficiently at school, which is great. There is one day where we've had to add a short after school meeting for like for a specific purpose, Because, because we are a small school with a small staff, it was just not possible to have a full team meeting with everyone at the same time and so we had to say, okay, we're going to do this on Wednesdays for 45 minutes after school for this specific reason, but if we don't need to have that meeting, we won't have it.
Speaker 3:So, like next week we don't need to have it because we finished everything last week. So we really wanted to know again try to really stick within, like we're done at three, you can stay if you need to, but you know you don't have to. And so I do. I do hear, um, you know, like the appreciation for thank you for just saying that we don't have to do things all the time yeah because you don't, you know.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, and I think too, with this time of year in particular and we've earlier in our kind of North American school year we're right at the beginning of August.
Speaker 3:I know you guys start a little bit later, mid-september, with your students but you know, still this time of year, with you know, we're moving into the fall season and people are starting to get the seasonal flu and bugs and things like that.
Speaker 3:And it just makes me think about how, like, we've really been pushing ourselves, like the stamina has been like super high.
Speaker 3:It's like we're just going and going and going and now people are like, ooh, I'm starting to not feel great, and so I always wonder, like, is it possible for us to slow down a little bit at the beginning of the year, which doesn't seem possible, even though, like I felt like we've been very intentional about the things that we've been bringing to teachers and like the timing of things, but it's still so much right, because everyone, they're students and like we have lots of projects going on and field trips and things like that, and so people are starting to feel that breakdown. And so this is a time of year for sure. And I remember just in years past to where it's like, okay, how can we make sure we're still advocating for ourselves here, where we are starting to not feel well and we have the teacher guilt of but then I need to have sub plans, or but oh, because I'm okay, you know, but really your body's telling you to stop and but it's so hard, right like? I'm sure you guys have the same thing yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:You've got people starting to get run down. But sometimes it feels like it's more work to take a day off and get a sub in and do all the plans and make all the provisions for that. And, oh my goodness, don't you feel the pressure when you are at home and it's the day off to just check your emails to make sure that you know if Johnny's going home with somebody else, that the sub teacher knows who they're going home with? Like you're still partially dialed in to school. You're not really a hundred percent resting. So it is really, it is really important to to set yourself up with as many strategies and protocols and systems to to make these things as easy as possible, if you can yeah, and unfortunately we don't have like a guilt off button.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:I don't think teachers are built like that.
Speaker 3:No no, no, it is so apparent, though when we don't feel well, it shows with our students, and even the kids know when something's not quite right, and it isn't really, even though it's short term, when we're sick, you know but it isn't really a sustainable practice long term either, and I know again speaking of sustainability, with schools like there's just not enough subs either. So there's that guilt on top of things, and but we're talking about teacher wellness here, and so if we don't have well teachers, then students aren't going to be well either, and it's it's unfortunate that we have to have the guilt, but I don't know. There's like no, there's no like easy thing here.
Speaker 2:There's not. No, there's not, and I think not just in your day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month wellness. I think if people are pushing themselves to these limits, we can only do that for so many years, and so if we want to keep passionate caring professionals around in the field they can't do that endlessly for 30, 40 years. You've got to find some sort of balance somewhere along the way, because your body literally can't push itself and remain sick that long without some pretty dire things happening to you.
Speaker 3:So sharing any tricks or tips or strategies you have to pare down and make things easier for yourself is going to be really helpful to the people around you, for sure I think one of the things that is really helpful and I saw it in action this week and heard about it and read about it actually with one of our teachers, she got some good structures in place for her students. Having some of those structures really helped release some of the pressure off of her and some of the things that she was feeling. And you know, this is like one of the things that we talk about a lot, especially when we're talking about like learner agency and like when does the teacher let go of some of that control and we can take off some of the stress of, like all of the things that we're doing for students when they can actually do them for themselves? Right, we want our students to do the doing and the thinking and then we can watch, observe and facilitate.
Speaker 3:That takes up a lot of stress from a teacher, right. That takes up a lot of stress from a teacher, right. So you're talking less and you get to listen more and observe more, and I think that's a huge, it's a huge lift off of the teacher when you can actually step back from that and just kind of enjoy the fruits of your labor. I feel like where you're just watching your students in action. You're like yes, we're getting to this point where I'm not putting in so much energy here.
Speaker 3:That is a huge step, and if we can get more teachers on board with that type of thing too, that's a huge piece of sustainability in education, right? Sometimes we just like talk too much, we teach too much, we're giving too much to the students, so we need to step back, which is hard because, like a lot of us, are control people.
Speaker 2:I don't know what you're talking about, but you said, yes, that's so true though You're so on the money with that, because but that's so true though You're so on the money with that because, you know, if we see our roles as I have to be prepared for everything and I am the decision maker and I am controlling where this lesson, this learning, is going, and I am the transmitter of information as well as the giver of all feedback then, yeah, that's a lot to be doing. And what's the student's role? Are they just passively receiving all of these things that we're doing to them? You know, we want it to be an equal sharing of the education experience, really, don't we?
Speaker 3:We do, yeah, and I feel like when teachers have success with handing over that baton kind of to their students, that's something we really have to celebrate and invite other teachers in to see, because it is really a hard process, it's a hard thing to let go of, but it's so amazing to watch students in action when you're like, oh yeah, that hard work that I did at the beginning is really paying off now. And not just I, I mean, but like, oh yeah, that hard work that I did at the beginning is really paying off now. And not just I, I mean, but like you know, with them and that is I mean. Isn't that the point of school? Right, we're preparing students for life.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I hope so. I hope that's what we're doing. That's been my plan anyway.
Speaker 3:Right, mine too. And yeah, I think you know the self-advocacy piece for teachers is is a tough one because, like we were talking about before, you feel bad for taking a day when you're not well but no one else is going to tell you to do what's best for you, or you, you might, someone might write like you're not well, you should stay home, but you're the one that has to take the action. Like it's one thing to think and feel even I don't feel great, I should stay home, or whatever it is.
Speaker 3:You know, I'm just kind of sticking with that same example, but also like you have to do it you know, and like we tell parents okay, it's sick, sicky season, blues are happening, stuff's going on, keep your kids at home if their nose is dripping or they're coughing. Happening stuff's going on, keep your kids at home if their nose is dripping or they're coughing. But then if we come in with those things, what message are we saying sending?
Speaker 2:yeah, and and we strangely think we're showing some sort of like aspirational strength or something that like look at me, I can power through this situation. Rather than modeling what we actually want to see from the families of like, let's protect the community.
Speaker 3:Yes, exactly, and we know that teachers are superheroes anyway. Right, we know that we can power through these things, but it's not healthy and sustainable at all through these things, but it's not healthy and sustainable at all.
Speaker 2:No, you know, I had a great reminder from one of my colleagues just recently. We were tackling this issue that really wasn't shouldn't have been on our shoulders, really, but we were trying to tackle it anyway. And at one point she emailed me and she's like look, here are some resources, but I'm out. Like this is, I've got to draw a line. I don't really have the bandwidth to deal with this right now. So over to you and I went.
Speaker 2:You know what, I'm going to pass this along as well. You've reminded me that I shouldn't be taking on things that are not in my remit and they're not in your remit. So thank you for the reminder. Good on you. I really endorse your choices here and I'm going to do the same, and so I forwarded it along to the the people that it should have been dealt with in the first place, and I think you know in that sort of way that we can remind ourselves and each other, remember what we need to be doing, what our priorities are, and if it's not one of your priorities in your role, then pass it on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, no, that's great. Yeah, it's hard to do, hard to do.
Speaker 2:It is hard to do, it is, but I think it is helpful when we can and you know, encourage each other when it does happen.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, thank you for this conversation, Christine. It's always enlightening to talk to you.
Speaker 2:It is good, it is good to chat. Do you have any pare-down pointers for us today?
Speaker 3:I do. I'd say that my pare-down pointer for today's episode is to actually more self-advocating. So, you know, really live up to not only being aware that you're doing a lot of things right and you know that, or like understand that you have to pare down some things in order to to really focus on priorities. But it's one thing to think it and it's another thing to do it. Taking action on like just saying no or saying I'm sick at home, or I'm going to hand over that responsibility to my students because I know they have the capability, and I'm going to hand over that responsibility to my students because I know they have the capability and I'm going to step back. So taking actions on those pieces so that you can be better in your role, you can have clarity in your thinking, because there's less in your own mind cluttering that space and just feeling that bit of stress around carrying around things that you don't need to, because there are other people to support you in the process, absolutely.
Speaker 3:I think an additional pare down pointer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I've got a few things in my mind, but I think the one that I'm going to talk about is being mindful of what you're talking about with your colleagues. So when we're being mindful of what we're talking about with our colleagues, we really have an opportunity to keep that focus on that work-life balance, that focus on that work-life balance. So if all of our discussion with our colleagues when we're getting a cup of coffee or getting lunch, is all about what's happening in our classroom, what's happening after school, before school, that email you got from that parent when you got to school this morning, that sort of thing, we're re-inhabiting this world of like this is everything. This is everything all the time.
Speaker 2:But if you make that conscious decision to say you got any plans this weekend, what did you do last weekend? Got anything going on tonight? What show are you watching? What book are you reading, and keep the conversation around the rest of you, the rest of your life and what you've got going on, because that is so important in who you are as a person, I think you know you're really trying to inhabit that idea of this is your job and, yes, you're passionate, but this is your job and there is so much more to you and I value the rest of you as well, and it's also probably really healthy for us to have that mental break away from work, because it's it's very hard, um, when you're in a school campus to get a break from it, because constant reminders all around you all the time. So it's if we can do that for each other and and provide that little mini break for each other, I think that's going to be really helpful yeah, I love that, very true.
Speaker 2:Thank you, christine thank you Love that, very true. Thank you, christine. Thank you, tammy, till next time. Today's episode was brought to you by Plan Z Professional Learning Services forward-thinking educator support. Find out more at planzplservicescom.
Speaker 1:Be sure to join Tammy and Christine and guests for more episodes of the Minimalist Educator podcast. They would love to hear about your journey with minimalism. Connect with them at PlanZPLS on Twitter or Instagram. The music for the podcast has been written and performed by Gaia Moretti. Thank you.
