Navigating the Unknown: Embracing the New School Year with Confidence
Navigating the Unknown: Embracing the New School Year with Confidence
[00:00:00] Welcome to the eight to four teacher where we tackle the habits, routines, and mindset shifts that help teachers leave school at four without guilt. This is a space for teachers who wanna do meaningful work without working around the clock. I'm your host, Barb Flowers, and I believe you can be an amazing teacher and have a life outside of school.
Let's build a teaching life that feels sustainable and fulfilling. Let's make eight to four your new normal.
. Welcome everyone to the eight to four teacher. I'm so glad you're here. Today we are talking about navigating the unknown and embracing uncertainty as you start the new school year. And I wanted to choose, I chose this topic because I saw this a lot as a principal working with teachers.
Where teachers really got anxious. Not every teacher, but certain teachers had this higher level of anxiety at the beginning of the school year, and I realized what the cause was is [00:01:00] it's really the unknown. As humans, we crave certainty. We crave knowing what's going to happen. And as educators, a lot of times educators are very routine people, me included.
Right. I like routines. I like knowing what's going to happen. However, we have to be okay with that uncertainty as educators. And I think there's a tension there that we wrestle with of like. Wanting certainty, wanting to know that this is gonna be a great school year.
And then it's actually very uncertain to be a teacher because we never know what the makeup of our class is going to be. Even if we had kids that were at, at that school the year before, you could be a fifth grade teacher, and you've seen those kids from kindergarten and you get a different mix together.
They've matured, and it could be a crazy year. I had one group of first graders once. It was my roughest year of first grade. Then I moved up to third. I had that same class, not the exact same group of kids, but you know, I worked with those students that I had in first grade, some of them, and then some from other classes.[00:02:00]
It was one of my best classes because of the different students that were grouped together. So you just never know what the school year's going to bring. And so that's what I wanna talk about is really embracing that new school year with confidence and just knowing that everything is going to be okay and acknowledging those uncertainties.
So I wanna start by talking about embracing the unknown. Like I said, every school year brings new challenges. It brings, unique challenges. Sometimes we have this great class set up and then one new student comes halfway through the year and it changes the whole dynamics because of whatever that student has going on.
, We just know it's never certain. , You could have a student who has always been fine and then is going through some traumatic event. One year, we started the school year with a student. , Who got in a really bad car accident, was in the hospital and, you know, lost his brother. ,, There's all kinds of uncertainty that happens when you're dealing with people.
Okay. And so that's, I guess the biggest [00:03:00] thing is that we have to embrace the unknown. As a teacher, I. There's always going to be those situations that we don't know what's going to happen. We're going to get new curriculum. We don't know how it's going to go. We're gonna try something, we don't know how it's going to go.
And so that's why in teaching, we've always learned good teachers have to be flexible. And it's harder for others because you might have a personality that you don't wanna be flexible, or you might be a perfectionist and , not that perfectionist can't be flexible, but it's harder because you wanna do everything perfect and you wanna know all the information.
And so I just wanna remind you. That you are capable and resilient, and this is part of the growth process. Every time that you embrace the unknown and handle a situation. That you weren't sure if you can handle, you are growing. And so I always say the best experiences I have are those hard situations that I never expected.
Were going to be so hard, that's caused the most growth for me. So go in it with that mindset and also manage your expectations. I always think that it's really [00:04:00] interesting and I get caught up in this trap too, but. In schools, it's like, it's a new year. It's kind of like January 1st, right? You're thinking New Year, new me, and it's gonna be great.
Well, if we didn't do any work that's different on us, then one, it's not gonna be different. , And I talk about that in my courses, like if you were burnt out and feeling like you were, . If you were burnt out and feeling overwhelmed with teaching last school year, if you didn't do any coaching or courses or work to fix that, then that doesn't go away.
So one, we can't just have the expectation that. Everything's gonna be better because it's a new year. Also, I think sometimes we have the expectation of what our students were last year. So being in an elementary, especially when I taught first grade at the end of the year, they're like second graders when they come in, they're end of the year kindergartners.
They're so little. And so my expectations when I first started were like, why can't these kids do anything? And then I had to remind myself. Because they're so little. They're babies when they come in and I [00:05:00] have to teach them everything. Teach them those expectations and remember that they're so young still.
Also, sometimes I think we have expectations that, you know, this is gonna be the best class ever, and then it doesn't happen that way. Maybe one student. , , Throws it off in some way, and you know that can change everything. And so you have to set realistic expectations that it's not about perfection this year, is going to be unknown.
It's always unknown, but just remind yourself. Of the successes you've had as a teacher before, and if you're new, remind yourself that you're going to have successes, and as you have them, bring those up as evidence that it's all going to work out. Because when we face the unknown as a teacher, which we're constantly doing, we just have to remind ourself that even when we're put in the toughest situation as educators, we're very resilient and we will figure it out and it'll all work out.
Okay. And then another piece is develop a positive mindset. So I want you to think about, and this isn't toxic positivity. I'm [00:06:00] not saying you have a group of kids that have a lot of behavior challenges and you're supposed to walk in and be like, it's fine, everything's great.
No, that's not healthy either. , I've read three to one positives, just like we should be giving kids. In PBIS, it was four to one positives, but., In a book called Soundtracks. He was talking about having three positive interactions to one negative.
And if you think about that, and he's talking about it with yourself, right? Like we can have a negative response to something, but then how can we shift our perspective? How can we give ourselves self-compassion and really get curious about it? One thing I teach people in coaching is to shift our perspective.
We have to get curious , why is this happening? If I think about a student that is really difficult for me, why am I having trouble connecting with this student? Why am I not able to help them get their behaviors under control? Get curious , shift your perspective, and really frame the challenges as growth.
And then, like I said, have self-compassion. You have to be kind to yourself. [00:07:00] And give yourself grace because you have to remember, things aren't going to go as planned. As teachers, we try to plan as much as possible, but again, it's that uncertainty. Things don't go as we planned it, so this is when it's so important to lean on colleagues, lean on, hopefully your administrator or mentors for support.
I was so lucky as a teacher that I had amazing colleagues. I had a great principal. I had a mentor teacher because I was brand new when I was hired there. So just whoever you have that you can lean on for support I think is really important because , you just have to remind yourself to shift your mindset constantly.
And I wanna give you a couple of mindsets here that you could have. But the first one is embrace the journey, not just the destination. And this can be used in so many different areas of life, but you have to just remember. That teaching is a continuous learning process. You could be a veteran teacher with 25 years, and I guarantee you're dealing with something different than that you've never dealt with before.
I've seen this a lot with principals. [00:08:00] I was mentored by a principal who had been a principal for 25 years, and I asked her a question about a situation we were handling and she was like, I don't know. I've never dealt with this. In 25 years, she still got tons of new situations because kids are changing and things are evolving, and so.
We just have to embrace that it's a journey, not a destination. We're not always going to know, but we can keep growing as an educator. So you just wanna keep that growth mindset that keeps you curious and just remember, set it aside. Set aside time each day to really reflect on one positive aspect. It could even be in passing.
You could be walking to get your kids somewhere and you think, okay, what's one positive thing going? Today, and share that with your kids. Have them as a class. What's one positive thing? Talk to your neighbors. Share that. That's just a good life skill to teach your kids, and it's good for you guys to build that connection as a class.
And it's good for you to hear positive things too. So just try to shift your mindset. Keep that positive [00:09:00] mindset. And remember that teaching is a journey. It's not a destination. And then the second mindset shift that I always want you to think about is progress, not perfection. It's so easy as a teacher to get caught up in perfection, but long-term success in teaching is about progress.
Like I said, you're never going to be perfect at year 30 or whenever you retire because there's just no way you're dealing with people, right? People are uncertain. Things change. Some things work, some things don't work, and there are some kids that maybe you don't connect with as much as another teacher.
There's so many factors in it. And you just have to remind yourself that the key to long-term success in teaching and really in life in general, is just making consistent progress rather than having this unattainable standard of perfection that you'll never meet because you're never going to be happy if you have a standard that you can't meet.
So just remember that and just set those small, achievable goals. And I've been talking about this in the other podcasts too, where it's like. Take one thing [00:10:00] away. Create one small habit, one small goal, something that helps you feel accomplished even when things are unpredictable, even when things aren't as certain as you'd like them to be.
And then focus on finishing each day with just one task that moves you forward, whether it's. Making sure the next day is the lesson is ready to go. , Whatever that is for you, that leaves you energized, feeling like you've been productive for the day. I know for me, I have to feel like I had a productive day.
And just remember, you can bring as much certainty , to the uncertainty and do this through. Creating your routines, creating , your habits, your systems in place that Give you and your kids as much consistency and certainty as possible.
So when things come up that don't fit into that, at least you have those routines in place. I always think about breaks, before we go on like Christmas break or spring break. I think a lot of times what messes people up so much is when we stop. Being consistent with routines way ahead of the break because we're [00:11:00] excited and we're doing seasonal activities, but then everybody just kind of gets this anxiousness because they're uncertain.
They don't have that certainty of routines and things in place. So I just wanna talk really quick about practical tips for navigating new challenges. So as you think about, as you go into next year, you know you're going to have a new class. So I want you to think about how are you going to build those relationships?
Are you going to do morning meetings? Are you going to really incorporate a lot of get to know you activities, have kids write about themselves, maybe you do a star of the week or some sort of activity where they share about themselves. , How are you gonna just have many conversations and connect with kids one-on-one?
You want kids talking to an adult every day in elementary, that's easier if you're in older grades. That can be really challenging. So. Thinking about how are you going to have conversations with kids? How are you going to make sure that you're building relationships with all kids? If you're going into the school year with uncertainty about new curriculum, just remember, utilize the resources the [00:12:00] district gives you.
Utilize the professional development they give you. Utilize if they give you coaches. I don't know how many people I talk to that have instructional coaches and sometimes they're not utilized. Utilize those people. Use your colleagues as help, support. They're going through the same thing, instead of getting together and just complaining.
What about getting together and problem solving? Thinking about what actions you can take. And then when you're implementing something new, give yourself grace. You're not going to go into it and know exactly how to teach the curriculum right away. You have to give yourself grace and . And just understanding that you're going to make mistakes and then use the curriculum and lean on it as much as possible.
I know as teachers, people hate scripted curriculums, but if you're implementing something new, just use that curriculum, use the script, use it as much as possible so that it, , even if it feels wonky and like not a smooth transition, it's what you have to work with and you just do the best you can with that.
If you're having [00:13:00] some, anxiety about different types of students that you could have, just remember that every year is so different. I remember prepping my year. I had the inclusion class in first grade, and I was prepping for back to school as my first year of inclusion, and I was a second year teacher, so I was really new.
I was getting an intervention specialist for 30 minutes a day in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. So I don't know that I'd call that. True inclusion, but I definitely had the kids all day. , And the day before school, we had a student enroll who has a hearing impairment and didn't do sign language and didn't speak.
, That was like a huge learning curve the day before school. I'm like, I have to figure this out. They're giving me a speaker and a mic. And I never had that before and I had to teach with that and. , Work with a hearing impaired teacher. So it was just like this learning curve thrown at me right away, and I just had to remind myself, I'll figure it out.
I'll figure it out as I go. And I did. And again, that was a very challenging situation, but one of the best growth experiences I've had as a teacher. [00:14:00] And then learning and growing from your self-care routines.
, you put an exercise routine in place, or some sort of routine that you're like, I really want this to stick during school. Just know that , you absolutely can make that habit and routine stick. You just have to create it over the summer and you can create it anytime, really.
But just stick to small, consistent habits. So whatever you want it to be, keep it small, keep it consistent. , I wanna recap. You're going to embrace the unknown. Set realistic expectations and think about a positive mindset that you can take, and then just remember that you're resilient, you're capable, and you're prepared to handle whatever the new school year throws your way.
You've got this. We know that the uncertainty can be scary, but bring the certainty. You got this. Bring your routines, bring your experience. Bring all the things that you can to just make this the best that you can. And bring all the experience and routines and all the things to bring the certainty as best that [00:15:00] you can, and just give yourself grace as you go.
Remind yourself that you can't set unrealistic expectations. You don't know what the year's going to be like, but you are just going to make the best of it, whatever it is. And keep that open positive mindset. And remember, my goal is to help you be the eight to four teacher, be out the door at four. And so I hope you share this podcast with a friend so that you can help them do the same.
And I will see you back here next week.
