Laughing Through the Chaos: An Interview with Anna Kowal [#169]

Welcome to Educate and Rejuvenate the podcast, the show that helps you teach and live well.

 

I’m Kelsey Sorensen, a former classroom teacher, current homeschool mom, and a proud Teacher Goals author.

 

I’m on a mission to help educators of all kinds, not just survive, but thrive.

 

Are you ready to educate and rejuvenate?

 

Let’s go.

 

All right, everybody.

 

I’m so thrilled for today’s podcast episode.

 

As you can see, I have a special guest in the studio with me tonight, along with all of you here with us in the live studio.

 

Anna, we’re so thrilled to have you.

 

I’m so happy to be here, Kelsey.

 

So today we are talking all about how to laugh through the chaos, especially as we are at the end of the school year.

 

I’m sure a lot of you are just feeling maybe a little bit done, maybe a little bit stressed out.

 

So we’re here to give you a little bit of a reprieve, a little bit of a chance to laugh and rejuvenate, but also to feel seen and heard and connected with other teachers all around the globe.

 

How does that sound?

 

Sounds good to me.

 

We’ve got more and more of our friends tuning in.

 

We are live on both the Educate and Rejuvenate and Teacher Goals platform.

 

So hello to everybody on the various platforms.

 

We are so thrilled that you are here joining us live.

 

We would love for you to comment in the chat.

 

Tag your friends.

 

Every chat comment is an entry to win a five dollar Starbucks gift card.

 

And I forgot.

 

Oh, my intention was to on these really these podcasts are kind of like a little coffee chat.

 

We’re all just coming together.

 

I have my little Starbucks cup.

 

That’s a Starbucks card each time.

 

And we’re talking about is less than a latte.

 

Right.

 

That’s amazing.

 

I mean, you.

 

You cannot beat that anywhere.

 

You can’t.

 

You really can’t.

 

No.

 

I’m so excited for the summer conference.

 

Me too.

 

So Anna, for those of you who missed our big reveal a few weeks ago, she is our keynote speaker.

 

She’s going to be doing some comedy for us at the Educate and Rejuvenate Summer, I almost said twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five.

 

It is our fourth year.

 

That’s why I was getting confused.

 

I was about to say it’s our fourth year.

 

So our fourth year in the event, summer twenty twenty five.

 

We are so thrilled.

 

It is really going to be the best year that we do this event ever.

 

I feel like every year it just gets better and better.

 

We add more things.

 

We’re going to have a great time.

 

Um, last year was my first time and I had a blast.

 

Yes.

 

We loved having you.

 

We loved having you as a speaker in this year.

 

She gets to be our keynote, which is so fun.

 

I love that you started doing, I want to talk about that.

 

Like how you got into doing comedy with board of teachers and, um, becoming not, not just like doing TPT and the things you were doing, but now you’re doing like comedy and all that as well.

 

Kind of like how I was doing TPT and now I’m doing comedy.

 

like the coaching and these events.

 

So it’s really fun to hear people’s stories and how they kind of get to where they are.

 

So I would love to pick your brain about that because I really don’t, I haven’t really fully talked to you about that story.

 

So yeah, I’d love to hear about that.

 

Well, you know, like you said, I started out with social media because I wanted to help first year and second year teachers.

 

And I absolutely love being a teacher.

 

I’m such a nerd about it.

 

Like I want to share all the good things that I’m doing and all the things I see on social media.

 

So that’s kind of why I started with my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

 

And I’ve always loved comedy.

 

I’ve always been obsessed with it.

 

My favorite show growing up was I Love Lucy.

 

So Lucille Ball has always been a huge inspiration for me.

 

My family used to call me Lucy because I’m just like a smidge dramatic, just a little dramatic over here.

 

Yeah.

 

and me let’s be real yeah we’re all fun out here on social media and uh you know I started just making funny videos about teaching because it felt really therapeutic it’s instead of like this crazy bad moment that happened at school one day instead of dwelling on it I would be like how can I turn this into something funny for other people to get a kick out of and to relate to and know they’re not alone because being a teacher can feel so isolating you can feel like you’re on this little island by yourself with all these little humans surrounding you and um yeah so I just started doing funny stuff and then about a year ago board teachers reached out to me and asked if I wanted to be a content creator from for them and I was like duh yes I do you’re like yes I do kind of like when teacher goals approach me and like oh my gosh yeah I’d love to write a book it’s so fun yes please connections right right social media is so amazing like that and I feel uh so blessed that I’ve had that opportunity and through board teachers it’s just kind of evolved into more so I love that I get to do something I get to make fun, quote unquote, of teaching and making it therapeutic for everybody.

 

That’s like the best feeling in the world.

 

Oh, I love it.

 

And from what I’ve seen of what you do, it’s like very fun and lighthearted, you know, like it’s not making fun in like a derogatory way or anything.

 

Right.

 

Yeah.

 

Right.

 

It’s like, sometimes we just kind of have to laugh at the situations that we get into or the absurdity of it all sometimes.

 

So I like to crack a little joke here and there and see, and it’s, I can’t believe how many people have reached out to me and said, wow, this is so relatable.

 

I’m so glad that I’m not alone.

 

And thanks for bringing light to these situations without being negative.

 

And that’s always the goal.

 

And I feel like that’s what’s so important too.

 

Like, I think both of us, like, We see the reality.

 

It’s not like toxic positivity of just like everything is awesome, you know, but also like there is a point where you can get so into the negative that it’s just it just hurts, you know, and it’s not helping.

 

Right now.

 

So where you can look at the reality and feel it and feel it, whether it’s through laughter or whether it’s through processing emotion or whatever it’s through.

 

feeling that emotion, leaning into it, not trying to push it away, but acknowledging the reality coming together as community and also seeing how can we, how can we enjoy this more?

 

Like, you know, given, given what is happening, whatever circumstances are going on in teaching or in our personal lives outside of teaching, which is always so important to talk about too.

 

How can we make the best of it?

 

And I feel like that’s kind of what we both, are trying to help teachers do in a variety of ways.

 

Yeah.

 

Yeah.

 

It’s like, I want everybody to know that, you know, cause I’m so the positive Polly at work.

 

Like I’m always smiling.

 

I’m so, and sometimes I’m like, oh my gosh, don’t be, you know what you said, toxic, positive person.

 

You’re not, it doesn’t come across that way at all.

 

But, like, when I’m at work, I’m like, you know, I have to kind of sometimes tone it down because I love teaching so much that I don’t want to come off that way, like, at my physical school.

 

But I think that this comedy part is really helping me, you know, kind of be like it’s okay to – uh, crack jokes at things, but I have learned in the past that sometimes at work, cracking jokes always isn’t the best thing.

 

So I’m always like, yeah, I know.

 

Exactly.

 

So social media has helped me do that.

 

Cause I know sometimes at work, you know, not everybody wants the jokester all the time.

 

Sometimes we just need to sit with your, with our feelings.

 

Like you said, it’s important to acknowledge them and Um, so I try to be a lending ear to all my audience too, by, you know, people reach out and they’re like, you know, you, you know, I saw one of your questions on like the episode outline about how people reach out and they’re like, you know, but I’m just not finding this situation funny right now.

 

And that’s when you get to open up conversations with people and have really meaningful conversations about something that I genuinely love.

 

And I don’t want to see people giving up on education.

 

So I love having like social media has given me this opportunity to have these more serious conversations outside of comedy about the classroom.

 

And I just love it.

 

I just I love being able to have these conversations and keeping people around because what we do is so important.

 

Yes, I agree.

 

Can you tell everybody what you teach?

 

I feel like we just got right into it.

 

I’m sorry.

 

What you’re teaching, all of that.

 

I’ll just dive right in.

 

Just so people know, who is this teacher we’re talking to?

 

Yes, who is this person?

 

Hi, my name is Anna.

 

I am a middle school reading teacher right now.

 

I’m in my tenth year of teaching.

 

I started out teaching eleventh grade English and then I did that for about three years and then switched over to middle school.

 

So the chaos is by far my favorite, favorite spot to be.

 

I’ve been in Title I schools my whole career.

 

Yeah, so I probably will stick it out in middle school, I think.

 

I don’t think I’ll ever go back to high school.

 

Yeah, the high schoolers are, you know, they’re tough.

 

They’re a tough audience.

 

So everybody kind of has their like, sometimes you have to move around a little bit to figure out where your sweet spot is.

 

I feel like for me, I loved like, upper elementary is where I ended up loving the most more so than like the younger ones.

 

And I didn’t ever do secondary just just elementary.

 

But But yeah, I think upper elementary would be fun.

 

Yeah.

 

It’s so fun.

 

Like they’re starting to come out of their shell and get their personalities, you know?

 

Yeah.

 

They’re so cute too, though.

 

They truly are.

 

I don’t know if I could ever do it though.

 

Like I think one of my best teacher friends is a kindergarten teacher.

 

And I’m like, I just don’t know how you do that every day.

 

That looks so exhausting.

 

Yeah.

 

But then she probably thinks the same thing about you with middle school.

 

It’s just our spot that we belong, you know?

 

Yes, exactly.

 

But what I love is that no matter what grade you teach, because in our Educate and Rejuvenate Club, for example, or even at our events, we have teachers like people like, is this for second grade?

 

Or is this for middle school or is this for third grade or kindergarten or pre-k it really doesn’t matter to come together as a community because we all have something to share a value that can help whether like we’re talking to like you’re in middle school but an elementary teacher can still probably relate to the majority of what you’re saying you know absolutely Absolutely.

 

It was interesting.

 

I got to be on a podcast with a kindergarten teacher recently, and it was crazy how many similarities there are between an eighth grader and a kindergartner, believe it or not.

 

Oh my gosh, yes.

 

If we were laughing, I was like, who would have thought a thirteen-year-old and a five-year-old would be so similar?

 

Well, the crazy thing is you’ll find even like I was, we did a book club and okay, we’re going to have to talk this because they know we were chatting on Instagram about personal development books.

 

Right.

 

So you and I were, we were talking about that, right?

 

Oh yes.

 

Yes.

 

And I messaged you like, wait, we got to talk about this on the podcast.

 

Yes.

 

So in the educate and rejuvenate club, we just did a book club with the book, let them by Mel Robbins.

 

And she talks about growing up exactly like eight year olds, you know?

 

And so, um, like I feel like you don’t necessarily grow out of it like ever and I would say every grown-up myself included you probably included too Anna everybody we have our moments where we’re acting like an eight-year-old you know and and that’s kind of like what we talked about me and Christy on the podcast last week with um internal family systems and the different parts of us like yeah so yeah it totally makes sense that you know at thirteen they they still have some of those eight-year-old things going on you know oh yeah we all have our little tantrums sometimes so um did you always use humor in your teaching or did that kind of come up more like as you got into comedy or posting that on socials I think I’ve always tried to be a jokester of a teacher.

 

I like to, like as a middle school and high school teacher, roasting kids is very much a part of my- Oh, I’m sure they love that.

 

That’s so trendy right now.

 

It’s like a part of my classroom management.

 

I swear on it.

 

It’s like, I think just being goofy and they think I’m super corny and they don’t really think I’m funny, but they, because I’m so- They probably do.

 

They just don’t want to like let it show.

 

Right.

 

They don’t want me to think I’m too cool, you know what I mean?

 

But yeah, I think I’ve always used humor.

 

I’ve always tried to be really lighthearted in the classroom.

 

I always tell teachers, you don’t want to come off as the friend when it comes to classroom management, but you want to come across as a trusted adult who is not going to scold you over a mistake.

 

Mistakes are a beautiful thing to make in a classroom.

 

And I think using humor and joking around with the kids can let them put their guard down a little bit and trust me to be vulnerable and make mistakes and put the comma in the wrong spot in the sentence and whatnot.

 

So I think I’ve always tried to use it.

 

And I’m just, that’s my natural personality is to be goofy.

 

So yeah.

 

I always tell people be your true self in front of kids.

 

They really respect that.

 

And it shows them to be proud of who they are too.

 

I think it’s a good thing to model in front of kids.

 

Absolutely.

 

Because they like absorb what we’re doing and what we’re saying.

 

And even our self-talk, like I try to be careful because if I say something negative about myself, even as a mom now with my daughter and she’ll be like, Mommy, why did you say that?

 

And the thing is, she’s so great at correcting me.

 

She’ll be like, Mommy, why did you say that?

 

Because I think it’s because on the flip side, I’ve also taught her about speaking positively.

 

It’s just we all don’t, we can easily say something and then do the other thing, right?

 

But she’s good at pointing that out.

 

But that shows that the kids, they can absorb.

 

And whatever we’re saying, whether we’re in a classroom, whether we at home with our kids, I know the majority of my audience usually has a lot of times has both, you know, your own children and your students.

 

So it’s always something important to keep in mind when we have children around, like, because it really is so important when you think they’re not.

 

I know it’s, it’s so true.

 

And I, even if I slip up in front of the kids, I’ll be like, wait, no, I’m amazing.

 

I’m fabulous.

 

What am I talking about?

 

Like, you know, cause I don’t want them to see that negative talk, you know, about myself if I make a mistake in front of them.

 

So that’s so true.

 

And that’s awesome that your daughter has picked up on that.

 

It means you’re teaching or something, you know?

 

I know, that’s so great.

 

I love, I feel like, It’s been fun to see.

 

And sometimes I’m like, oh, my oldest.

 

I wish I would have known some of the things I know now when he was younger.

 

Because my younger two, like my youngest, he’ll be like, mommy, I feel stressed.

 

I need to do a meditation.

 

And it’s like, yeah, my oldest never would have done that because I haven’t really started doing that myself yet.

 

But it’s so great.

 

You can do that in the classroom, too.

 

Like a lot of the…

 

Teachers I talk to in our Educate and Rejuvenate community, they do that.

 

Like you can turn on a meditation with your students.

 

Like if you need a chance to regulate, do it with them.

 

They likely need that too.

 

I, anytime, if I, if, oh, they love it.

 

It’s so cute too.

 

Even the eighth graders, like the older kids like it.

 

And I’ll say, guys, you know what?

 

I’m feeling really frustrated.

 

I’d like to take some deep breaths.

 

Do you want to take them with me?

 

And like, usually the first breath, it’s kind of giggly because they’re like, oh my gosh, this is so goofy.

 

What are we doing?

 

But then they’ll, After I keep, I just keep going.

 

I go past the laughter and the giggles.

 

And by the third or fourth deep breath, they’re like, oh, okay.

 

Like, I guess she’s going to still keep doing it.

 

And then they join me.

 

So it’s, it’s something that I try.

 

Middle school kids too, you know, because they probably takes a little more buy-in for things like that.

 

I feel like it does with the littles.

 

It’s like, you know, they’ll, they’ll buy into that quicker.

 

Oh yeah.

 

Yeah.

 

But middle schoolers, they, they want those tools too.

 

I don’t think that they know.

 

They don’t verbalize it, but they want these little skills.

 

And I used to teach kids that to come up with like a four-word mantra and then to do this and say it in their head anytime they are feeling frustrated.

 

And one of my toughest students ever, I saw her one day and her hands were underneath her desk doing this.

 

And my heart almost…

 

I know it almost exploded because I, it was, there was a lot going on in the classroom and I could tell she was frustrated and she was, you know, self-regulating.

 

I was like, I’m so proud of you.

 

That’s the best.

 

Whenever you see the kids applying what you’ve taught them and modeled, and now you realize them using it like naturally, like not like, oh, I’m supposed to be doing this right now, but just like organically they’re doing it.

 

And that’s always just such a magical moment.

 

And that is why teaching is, is just so magical and so powerful and it’s teacher appreciation week.

 

So I just have to say like teachers, all of you out there, I appreciate, and it’s not when this airs live, probably by the time we get it out, but in the studio, it’s teacher appreciation week, but either way, I appreciate you and all that you do.

 

And you really deserve one of the things we’re kind of leaning into here at educate and rejuvenate right now is, um, actually, that that and in our logo, it’s like you can teach and you can breathe, you can teach and you can do whatever it is fill in the blank for you.

 

And that’s what I want for all of you this teacher appreciation week to make sure that you conserve yourself too.

 

And that’s what this podcast series we’re in episode three.

 

of the ease into summer series to help you not just survive the final weeks of school, not to necessarily thrive, thrive.

 

Yes.

 

If that feels good to you, if it doesn’t feel good to you, just to ease into it and give yourself love and grace, wherever you are at, we’re meeting you there.

 

I love that so much.

 

I like, I like to think that for my blankets teach and it’s okay to put myself first.

 

It’s okay.

 

I think a lot of teachers, um, just are they you know we’re told that we are like you know we have to go above and beyond for our kids remember your why it’s all about the kids but you can put yourself first and that’s still really helping the kids too yeah because that you’re going to be a happier teacher and that’s going to make them happier students so I always say it’s okay to put yourself first Absolutely.

 

I mean, I talk about that like a whole ton in my book and everything too, because it’s like so important.

 

We naturally try to put everyone else before ourselves a lot of times.

 

I think that’s what comes first.

 

second nature almost to teachers and also to women and so if you’re a female and a teacher it’s just like oh you’ve got you’ve got all the cards where you’re going to be and I’m yeah to help everyone and that comes from such a good place but it’s when you do that um it’s why I hate that quote there’s that quote that says um a good teacher is like a candle it consumes itself to light the way for others I’m like oh so it just keeps like burning out until there’s that’s not good that That’s literally a metaphor for burnout.

 

Yeah.

 

What were you saying?

 

I said, that’s literally a metaphor for burnout.

 

That’s no fun.

 

Literally a candle burning out.

 

I’m like, oh, so your teacher is a burned out teacher?

 

No.

 

It’s really not.

 

And I, and you know, I used to be a burnt out teacher for probably.

 

I think all of us have.

 

Yeah.

 

At least the first five years just consistently burnt out.

 

And I, The more I have put up boundaries and the more I have said, you know what?

 

No, I can’t do that.

 

Or I can’t volunteer my time.

 

The happier and better a teacher I am.

 

It’s night and day difference.

 

It truly is.

 

I’m such a happier teacher now that I refuse to let myself get burnt out.

 

But it’s not easy.

 

It’s not easy to say no, because we I think we are like you said, it’s natural for us to say yes and to try to make others happy and put others first.

 

It’s such a natural thing for us teachers and women.

 

Absolutely.

 

But if any of you if you want help with this, if you want help with, you know.

 

prioritizing yourself and taking care of yourself come to our summer event you’ll get to see anna and her comedy but also I will be teaching very extensively my coaching framework like kind of a deep dive into the concepts in my book to all of you and boundaries as part of that and prioritizing yourself as part of that and looking like there’s so there’s so much to it so much so yeah please join us if nothing else to come to anna and i’s sessions, but there’s so many more too.

 

It’s going to be amazing.

 

It really is educate and rejuvenate.

 

We have all the stuff to help you rejuvenate like the comedy, the workouts, my coaching, but then we also have like experts coming in like all the different teaching subjects.

 

So go to educate and rejuvenate.com slash summer, to learn more.

 

Yeah.

 

And who doesn’t love virtual PD hours?

 

There’s no better kind.

 

There’s no better kind.

 

No, for real.

 

Like you can get for five dollars.

 

You can get so many PD hours.

 

I don’t know.

 

We give you a checklist so you can check off all the ones you got done.

 

And then we’re doing some fun stuff, too, for those who do the Platinum Pass this year as well, which gives you even more PD hours.

 

But even with just the five dollar ticket, you get so much.

 

It’s insane that it’s just five dollars less than a latte to join us.

 

I love it.

 

It’s incredible.

 

I’m so excited.

 

so going back to your comedy I feel like I’m kind of wanting to just pick your brain all over because I’m like I also do want to go back to the books like yes this is like where my adhd brain is like what do we talk about right now I love it I have adhd too it’s fine I know me and my daughter she got it from me when it’s actually my daughter we were like looking into stuff for her and then every symptom I was reading I was like what?

 

During this call, I’ve like been adjusting in my chair.

 

Yeah, I was diagnosed when I was and it helped my schooling so much once I figured out how to deal with all that and how to just help myself be a little bit more organized.

 

It’s been a journey, but it’s, it’s helped now.

 

So that was good.

 

So do you have like a favorite, I don’t know, just comedy skit that you do?

 

Like what is your favorite or like your favorite reel or just your favorite comedy moment?

 

um oh my gosh my favorite comedy moment I don’t even know um I I like all my dad jokes in the classroom oh yes this is not a skit or anything but like I have go-to jokes that I keep in my pocket for my students that are so dad jokey and corny like anytime a middle schooler says it’s my birthday tomorrow I’m always like oh my gosh are you gonna be twenty eight or twenty nine and they laugh every time it’s the cheesiest joke it’s the cheesiest joke but they think they’re like oh my gosh Miss Kay I’m gonna be thirteen it makes me laugh so hard every time because it’s so cute I can just picture that that’s amazing yeah I love it and And like, if they drop something, you know, if they drop a piece of paper or something like, oh my gosh, Jimmy, why’d you throw that at me?

 

Did I make you mad?

 

And they also think that’s hilarious.

 

They think they, because they obviously did not throw it at me and I’m being dramatic.

 

So I love my little dad jokes that I give the kids consistently.

 

So.

 

yeah chris in the audience she had a birthday comment too I still sing them the happy haircut song when they get their haircut roll the birthday dice on their birthday they act like they hate it but yet they make a point of making sure I know it’s their day yes isn’t it adorable They love their birthdays.

 

It’s just so fun.

 

I love seeing your comments.

 

So keep on commenting.

 

If you’re live here in the studio, if you’re listening or watching this later, check the schedule for the next time we’re doing a live podcast.

 

Cause I’ll be doing them through the summer, at least until our event, just because they’re so much fun.

 

Yeah, it’s fun to do a live podcast.

 

I’ve only done a couple and it’s always a good time.

 

It’s a great time because I feel like, I don’t know, there’s something about when I record an episode by myself versus when I do my coaching with the members of the Educate and Rejuvenate Club and just feel the energy.

 

And so doing the podcast live where we get to have some of that too is just so much fun.

 

And like our event, like when we have all the comments and everybody just like supporting each other.

 

it just feels more like a community than me just talking to myself you know it does and and it makes everybody else feel involved too I think because I’ve watched live podcasts and and chatted before it makes me feel involved as a audience member so it’s really it helps shape the content too because a lot of times like um sometimes we get like a lot of comments and there are even times where sometimes like I want to actually plan in the outline to pull in some of what people say in the chat you know to shape the episode because it’s not all about me being the teacher and the listeners being the student it’s about us coming together and learning from each other so I love absolutely other perspectives in to the studio here for the podcast as well that’s awesome I love it okay so another question for you um What do teachers need more of right now and how can humor help provide it?

 

Oh, what more?

 

Well, I think that.

 

And I hate this answer because it’s not easy to give it to them.

 

But I think that teachers always need more time, like no matter what, you always need more time during.

 

One hundred percent.

 

And actually, I’ll add to that, that we just did a survey of it was almost six hundred teachers who took this survey.

 

And time after time again, it was time, time, time, time, time.

 

So you guys, we’re covering time at the event.

 

Good, good, good, good.

 

So you’ll get a lot more expertise on the subject of time.

 

But I think that not necessarily with humor that I can fix this problem.

 

But I think that, you know, if you are making sure that you’re putting yourself first, you’ll you’ll give yourself more time naturally when you do that.

 

And not being afraid to say no at work and say, no, I have other things that I need to prioritize with my time right now.

 

So that’s not like a humorous answer.

 

That’s a very serious answer.

 

But I just hear so many people say that they need the time.

 

And no one’s going to make the time for you.

 

So you have to do it, unfortunately.

 

But there are ways to do that.

 

What I feel like sometimes is we tell ourselves we don’t have time to…

 

have self care to take care of ourselves.

 

And what I even found actually in that survey was people were talking about self care as if it were like an event like, oh, I plan this much time for self care each week or whatever.

 

But actually, like for me, self care is a way of living.

 

It’s how we take care of ourselves.

 

It’s how we show ourselves love.

 

It’s how like, oh, I have five minutes during recess.

 

Let’s, you know, do a little something for me, whether that’s like finding a funny reel of yours to watch or whether that’s putting on an educate and rejuvenate meditation or whether that is doing, taking some deep breaths or texting a friend, whatever it might be.

 

Those little pockets of time, because we tend to have like, oh, self-care is another checkbox I have to do.

 

Right.

 

But that’s not what it has to be.

 

And I say you don’t have time not to make some time for self-care, even if it’s just those little pockets of time.

 

And even that comedy can be in those little pockets of time.

 

Yeah.

 

Oh, I there’s, I need at least five minutes of every prep period where I just scrolled and laugh and I just need to scroll and laugh for five minutes.

 

And then I have a little reset and then my mood’s higher again.

 

And now I can go perform better for my job because I’ve given myself that time.

 

Cause I just love comedy so much.

 

And I follow so many amazingly hilarious people out there.

 

So many comedians that like even teacher comedy, like I don’t feel like that was as much of a thing even like ten years ago.

 

But now it’s like teacher comedy is like its own thing.

 

We can have that comedy while we’re in the middle of our teaching day.

 

Yeah.

 

And like that is a form of self-care to just like zone out for a minute and to know you’re not alone.

 

You’re not on this island alone.

 

There are other teachers going through the same thing and we can poke fun at it a little bit and have some laughs and then get back to work.

 

So I always read at work.

 

I love to read.

 

I bring my Kindle with me because I just love to read.

 

We are soul sisters.

 

Did you know this?

 

Oh my God.

 

I love it scribe all the time and how we’re gonna give one away at the event we have to okay so you so you like the scribe what’s it so what’s how’s it different I haven’t I haven’t looked into it on it like take notes with it like and annotate yeah like and like you can have notebooks so it’s kind of like you know like the remarkable or whatever okay little tiny tour like look oh my yes I would love to see it but then also have like your notebooks and my kids love to draw on it as you can tell but yeah okay Kelsey I might need to get myself one I know and they have a new version too they’re so much prettier now I’m like oh I want to upgrade but mine is fine so we’re not you’re like I don’t need it right now and I’m obsessed with green Maybe I just need to find a green case for mine or something.

 

There you go.

 

That’s a good compromise.

 

See, self-care is about compromising too.

 

Yeah.

 

But we’ll give away the new one to somebody at the event.

 

So you’ll have a better one.

 

That’s so cool.

 

Yes.

 

I love that so much for that person who wins.

 

That’s incredible.

 

So yeah.

 

Anyway, on that topic, let’s talk about those books because you did a social media post where you shared your favorite self-care books.

 

yes there was a long list yeah just share a few um so I am obsessed with vex king he is a self-care author he’s a great instagram follow I think I might have just followed him like two days ago yes um yes he is I I can’t even remember I think his name is good vibes good life of the name of his book I love I’m currently reading a book of his about loving yourself to be able to form positive, loving relationships.

 

He’s just very short and punchy and to the point.

 

And that’s kind of how I like my self-care books.

 

I don’t need like…

 

I don’t need like a tome of a book, you know, I just need something that I can pick up when I’m feeling down or something that is just going to bring me, you know, some light in my life.

 

And he’s so great.

 

And I just, I love his Instagram posts because he just does quotes and they’re just little good nuggets to see throughout the day.

 

I love a positive note.

 

I love.

 

I love all the positive quotes that you all post on Educate and Rejuvenate.

 

It really helps to just like in your feed, because most of my feed is comedy.

 

And then to see those little positive notes is just so nice to see.

 

The ones that I’ve been doing, like the people have been really loving on our Instagram lately are those like permission slip ones, like you have permission to.

 

So we post those pretty often now because I feel like it’s what teachers need.

 

You need that permission slip.

 

So like, if you need that, here you go.

 

I feel like we’re kind of like Ron Swanson.

 

I do what I want, but again, if you don’t feel like you can give it to yourself, I mean, you should be able to, but if you want someone to give you a permission slip, we’ve got you.

 

Yes.

 

Yes.

 

And that resonates with teachers.

 

We need to hear it’s okay sometimes.

 

Yeah, for sure.

 

Um, So I love Vex King right now.

 

I’m reading a book and I don’t remember the name of it.

 

It was not on the list, but it’s called On Brand and it’s kind of about branding and social media.

 

So it’s kind of self-help in that way since I’m trying to build my own brand.

 

So that’s been fun.

 

I love Jen Sincero, I think.

 

Oh, I know who you’re talking about.

 

Yeah.

 

Yeah.

 

Yeah.

 

She wrote You Are a Badass.

 

And I just like, if you ever need to be reminded that you can achieve any dream in the world, read that book.

 

It’s got humor in it and it’s uplifting.

 

I just love it so much.

 

She’s sassy but fun.

 

Yeah.

 

Yes.

 

She’s sassy but fun.

 

Absolutely.

 

um I like the power of now that’s a classic self-help book yeah just living in the now um which I think is important for teachers because sometimes like if we have a bad third period you know, we kind of have to leave and we’re about to go teach fourth period.

 

We have to leave third period and what the bad happened and live in the now and start fresh because the new batch of kids I’m about to get in fourth period don’t know what happened third period.

 

I don’t need to take it out on them.

 

And that’s been something that’s really helped me as a teacher is to just, okay, we got to keep moving on.

 

We got to stay where we’re at and be in the now.

 

So I love that book too.

 

I think that’s an important one.

 

I also see another form of self-care books is just something that, to help you get your mind off school.

 

I see some Riley Sager in the background.

 

I’m like, oh yeah.

 

I love Riley Sager.

 

Oh my gosh, me too.

 

So I started a little online podcast our online book club with two other board teacher girls lauren and jess yeah and we only read thrillers because I’m in a book club like in my hometown with my good friends but we’re constantly we always vote on what we’re reading and I was like I just really want to read a thriller or a self-help that’s like really all I read and so I I started this online book club with jess and lauren and it’s called over our dead bodies we read one thriller yeah that is amazing it’s cute and it’s like our theme colors are like pink and black and it’s all girly but it’s just fun thrillers and the three of us do a live book club every month and we just chat about a thriller yeah I’ll have to check that out you all should check that out because that sounds like a great time so if you’re like oh no I don’t want to read self-help books I mean right They’re great.

 

Especially there’s this one called Educate and Rejuvenate.

 

Yes.

 

That’s right.

 

I actually have it right on my kitchen table.

 

Oh, I love that.

 

I love that.

 

Yeah.

 

I’m going to be reading it.

 

But yeah, I love self-help, but I do like to just read cheesy thrillers.

 

Like, you know, I have a degree in English literature, so I had this Yeah, that was what my undergrad was in.

 

I didn’t really, there was no plan to become a teacher.

 

It just kind of happened overnight.

 

That happens for a lot of us.

 

Yeah, but I have a degree in literature.

 

So I always, you know, I’ve read every big classic out there.

 

I’ve read all Shakespeare’s plays.

 

So now as an adult, I’m like, I just want to read a cheesy thriller, something easy, you know, a whodunit.

 

Yeah.

 

I love cheesy thrillers and I like cheesy romance too.

 

So I would say I have three categories.

 

They’re cheesy romance, thriller, and self-help.

 

Those are like my three.

 

Love it.

 

That’s a solid balance.

 

I love it.

 

So good.

 

What was the author’s name of the self-love book?

 

That was Beck’s.

 

What was his last name?

 

Vex King, V-E-X.

 

And it’s in the other room.

 

He’s got multiple books, but he only has one on the topic of love.

 

And it’s about self-love.

 

I remember it was pinned to the top of his Instagram.

 

I literally just had one of his posts pop into my feed the other day because you know the algorithm and it’ll find what you like.

 

And that’s obviously my vibe.

 

So one of his posts popped up and I was like, I gotta follow this guy.

 

Yes, it’s his most recent book.

 

Do some more posts like that because I love how like, I don’t know.

 

Anyway, I love I really do love a positive quote.

 

I love Instagram accounts.

 

that have the positive quotes for me there’s just yeah it’s just a nice little reset it’s like oh and I like to read it out loud too I know that sounds kind of cheesy but I’ll read it out loud because I I like to you know bring it out into existence a little bit yeah and not just like scroll by but like really think on it like oh what is this right for me like how do I feel about this?

 

Like, yeah.

 

Acknowledge that it’s bringing up feelings and yeah.

 

And a lot of times it’s good feelings.

 

Like, yeah.

 

Yeah.

 

Oh yeah.

 

I feel seen.

 

I feel, I feel inspired, you know, it’s not always bad, like feelings, you know.

 

Yeah.

 

I think, you know, social media can, you know, social media has a bad rep, I think a lot because there’s a lot of mean people out there, but I, ninety nine point nine percent of the time and completely inspired by what I see.

 

And I think I’m just better for it just by seeing all these amazing people and creative people out there sharing everything they have to offer to the world.

 

It’s so cool.

 

It really is and I feel like It goes to show, like, the algorithm, too.

 

Like, if you’re seeing a lot of…

 

Like, I’ve noticed my algorithm changes as I seek out certain types of content.

 

So if you feel like your social media is making you feel, like, perfectionistic or it’s making you feel down, maybe you just, like, look at who you’re following, unfollow some, and then search out what you want to see.

 

And it’ll help you get more of that.

 

And that’s actually…

 

real life to actually talk about that with, we have the, and this is a whole other tangent.

 

Let’s not go that podcast about the reticular activating system.

 

That is really shows how, what you’re focusing on, what you see, what you’re looking for.

 

You find more of it.

 

It’s kind of like when you are looking for a car, you suddenly see more of those cars and that’s what it is in real life too.

 

So if you look, are looking for, um, ways to love yourself and take care of yourself you’re going to find more opportunities to do that that’s awesome I love that concept I’ve never heard of that before yeah so it’s in it’s actually the vision board episode where we talk about um the reticular activating system and that’s why these words work but it’s not just a vision board thing and it’s like just how our brains function I love a vision board.

 

Oh, I love making vision boards.

 

I try to make one every two to three months.

 

I have, and they look different every time.

 

It’s so cool.

 

I do it with my students too.

 

I do like, I have them do.

 

Yeah.

 

We do like a digital vision board and they’re allowed to use Pinterest and Canva to create it.

 

It’s always fun.

 

Yeah.

 

It’s a really good activity, especially for the new year.

 

So fun.

 

Okay, so let’s see, we’re at about forty minutes.

 

I try to keep these like under an hour.

 

Sometimes I’m like trying for under fifty just because, you know, again, that time thing for teachers, right?

 

Yes.

 

Yes.

 

So let’s start wrapping up.

 

So without giving it all away, what can attendees expect if they decide to join us at the Educate and Retrieve me event with your keynote without giving it all away?

 

I will just say that I think you will feel seen.

 

I think you will feel less alone in all the chaos that is teaching.

 

And I think we’re just going to get to laugh about things that on certain days might not feel laughable, but when we think back…

 

But once we look past and we can reflect on the twenty twenty four twenty twenty five school year, we can just laugh together and feel one with one another, because that’s what I want is to just create a strong community of people that love what we do.

 

Acknowledge that it’s very hard and it’s not always easy to love it.

 

Acknowledge that and have some laughs along the way.

 

So, yeah.

 

I love this so much and I’m so grateful to have you as our comedy keynote at the event.

 

We’re going to have such a great time.

 

So if today our interview gave you even one laugh or light bulb moment, you’re going to love what’s coming in July at the summer event.

 

So grab your tickets at educateamrejuvenate.com.

 

In fact, I can put a little banner.

 

Depending on what platform you’re on, you might see a link.

 

It just depends.

 

Some of them will show a link, some won’t.

 

But you can just go to educateandrejuvenate.com slash summer twenty twenty five.

 

It’ll take you to the page where you can grab a ticket for less than a latte and join us and have a great time.

 

Get some laughs, make some friends like you’ll be like because you did the event last year and you’re like just the way like.

 

Like it’s a virtual event and yet the community and the camaraderie just and the vibes are just so high.

 

It’s so much fun.

 

It just feels like even though you might not know anybody there, it’ll feel like you do in a strange way that you’re just with a bunch of friends.

 

Everybody gets it.

 

Everybody’s in on the joke.

 

You know what I mean?

 

Like we’re all in it together.

 

Yeah.

 

Um, and it felt really cool.

 

And I love that you guys do like the Facebook community where people can ask questions directly to the community.

 

Oh, cool.

 

Oh, perfect.

 

Yes.

 

So you’ll like, if you have like questions afterwards, instead of like hunting for the email, you can just hop on the app and ask the questions.

 

And I think that’s super valuable because it is hard to like, who was the speakers and what was the speaker’s name?

 

And where’s their email but it’d be so much easier to do it on an app which I think that makes it feel a little bit more like social media community fun versus very professional pd I gotta send a formal email vibe so I love that I loved that part about it last year so much fun and there are like crazy tons of giveaways and they’re going to be bigger than ever like last year we didn’t give away anything as we give as a kindle scribe we’re giving away some good stuff this year I’m so excited for whoever wins that.

 

Yes, it’s going to be good.

 

Okay, well, thank you, Anna, for coming on our show.

 

And also for being our keynote this year.

 

We are so thrilled to have you.

 

I’m so excited.

 

Do you want to share before we go just where everybody can follow you if they’d like to follow you in the meantime, because they don’t want to wait until July for those laughs.

 

Yes, come on over to Read Away with Miss K.

 

I’ve been mostly on Instagram, but I am posting on TikTok now.

 

I’m trying to be cool like the young kids on TikTok.

 

So you can find me on there too.

 

But I definitely talk more directly to my audience and my folks on Instagram with my stories and everything.

 

So check me out.

 

And over our dead bodies too, if you want to read some fun thrillers with some funny gals.

 

Oh, that’s just so fun.

 

I love that idea so much.

 

Yeah.

 

We’re having a good time with it.

 

Well, thank you everybody for being here today, whether live in the studio or on the replay, we are so grateful that you took that your valuable time, because as we talked about, you don’t have a lot of it.

 

So you took that valuable time to hang out with us and have some laughs and do something for you.

 

So thank you everybody.

 

Thank you guys so much.

 

Bye everybody.

 

If you loved what you heard in this episode, don’t forget to hit that follow or subscribe button wherever you’re listening or watching.

 

And hey, if you’re ready to take this work even deeper beyond just a podcast episode, you’ll love the book that I wrote with Teacher Goals.

 

It’s called Educate and Rejuvenate, a three-step guide to revitalize your teaching, renew your spirit, and reignite your passion for life.

 

This isn’t just a book you read, it’s a whole experience.

 

With your copy, you’ll also get access to a full PDF workbook and exclusive reader-only course modules in our mobile app, designed to help you not just consume the content, but actually apply it to your life, even if you only have a few minutes at a time.

 

So if you’re ready to make Educate & Rejuvenate not just something you listen to, but a lifestyle you live and a mantra you carry with you every day, grab your copy on Amazon and head to educateandrejuvenate.com book to claim your bonuses.