Being Physically & Mentally Present at Home as a Teacher Mom with Trakena Price [episode 91]

Kelsey Sorenson [00:00:00]:

You are listening to episode number 91 of Wife Teacher Mommy, the podcast. Being physically and mentally present at home as a teacher mom with Trakina Price. Do you ever get home from school and maybe you’re with your kids, but you’re still thinking about your long to do list? We’ve all been there. But today I’m talking with Wife Teacher Mommy community member Truquina Price about how she’s learned how to more fully check out after school so she can be a more present mom.

Trakena Price [00:00:31]:

Hey, teacher is all you gotta do. Someone’s gonna take care of you whether it’s the time or resources you have. Why? Teacher mommy. They have got your back between your family, the gala teacher body and the place to be.

Kelsey Sorenson [00:01:11]:

Welcome to wife. Teacher. Mommy. The podcast. I’m Kelsey Sorensen, a former elementary teacher and current homeschool mom. And even though I’ve been a resource creator since 2014, I’ve realized that printables alone aren’t all you need in order to thrive as a teacher or homeschool parent. That’s why I also created this show and got certified as a life coach to help you finally kick burn out to the curb and feel confident with whatever challenges come your way. With the right mindset, strategies and new teaching inspiration, you’re going to be well on your way to your best teacher life. Now let’s go. Okay, so as I’m recording this, I just finished up my interview with Truquina that you are about to listen to and we just had an amazing conversation. And I just have to say that I love all of you so much. I love teachers, I love what you do, I love all of you in this community and I love our club members who are diving into this work and this content and they’re excited and lit up to learn about coaching and their mindset and everything. It lights me up and I love when I get to be face to face with one of you or with all of you or any capacity where I get to actually be in there with you. It is my absolute favorite. It is my jam. So I love today’s conversation and it was kind of a really natural conversation that we had. Like, I had some questions, I had emailed her, but she was very open to talking about whatever I wanted to talk about. She was like, I’ll talk about whatever. And so it just kind of asked her a few things. She joined White Teacher Mama club very recently. It was on a Facebook Live I did about educate and rejuvenate and she just jumped right in and joined the club. And then she came to the very next coaching call that I did, which was our model mastery call where we jumped in and we talked about the model and everything and then emailing back and forth with her planning this podcast. I could just see her passion for education and that she’s so excited about it and still feeling really good about it right now. And I know that some teachers right now are feeling very different levels about teaching right now and there’s nothing wrong with wherever you’re at. But I was like, oh, Trakina, there’s something about her that I would love for others to hear from her because it might help them. And so as I was asking her questions, what I realized during this interview is when she was saying that when she’s home, she’s home and she was able to mentally be present. And I think a lot of teachers struggle with they might be done with their work day, they might be home, but they’re still thinking about all the things they need to do. They’re still worrying about different things. And when you’re on that hamster wheel, when you’re always on, that definitely makes it a lot harder or if you’re taking work home. And that’s where I’m like, okay, I think this is where this conversation needs to go because that is a learned skill. It’s not like we automatically just know how to turn our brain off. It’s not an easy thing to do per se, and there’s a lot of mindset work that goes on behind it. There’s some different tricks you can do too physically to make it easier, but a lot of it is really in our mind, in our head and how we can do that. So it was really fun to hear her perspective. And then we even decided that we just need to do a wife teacher mommy club call all about this too, which we definitely will add to the list. I think definitely as we get in back to school season, as teachers are getting back into it, we will definitely have a call all about that topic, but super excited for today’s interview. You were going to learn so much just by listening to what she has to share from her experience. She’s a mom of three and she’s a teacher just like so many of you, and you’re going to learn a lot. So before we dive into that interview, I’m going to read what she had to say and this is in her words. She says, I am a wife and mother of three. I absolutely love spending time with my family and reading in my spare time. I’ve always known from a very young age that I wanted to be a teacher. I would sit all of my stuffed animals on my bed and use fisherprice chalkboard to teach them. I’m so thankful and blessed to be able to do what I am passionate about and love each and every day now you can even see from that her passion and her love for teaching that still shines through and definitely did while we did this interview. So I cannot wait for you to hear from her. Let’s go. Okay, draquina, I’m so excited to have you here on Wife Teacher Mommy. The podcast such a privilege to have you today. Thank you. I’m so excited to be here. Yes, I’ve been so excited to get connected with you. And you were on some of our Facebook lives that we were doing for educate and rejuvenate, and then you quickly joined us in wife, teacher, Mommy Club and showed up to the very next coaching call. I love that you just have dove right in to be part of the community, and it’s like I already feel like I’m getting to know you, which is so fun. I love when I get to connect with teachers all over. I feel like I was missing something. Like, this is something, a missing piece that I needed for my teaching this group. I love it. I’m so glad you found it because I love when we get new teachers, especially when ones like you who are like, go getters like, yeah, I’m showing up to the calls. I’m going to do this, and it’s so much fun. So can you tell us a little bit about your teaching journey? Like, when you started teaching, what you’ve taught, what led you to where you are now? Yes. So I started teaching back in around 2010. I was teaching pre K for Head Start, and then I went back to school to finish my bachelor’s and got my certification, and I started teaching second grade three years ago. So I’ve taught second grade for three years, and I will be moving to first grade this coming year. Are you excited for that change? I’m a little nervous. Yes, I am. I’m starting to get excited. I’m like, it shouldn’t be that much of a difference. You’ll do great. And then where in the country are you teaching again? Southeast Texas. Okay. Texas. Yes, that’s right. You told me. That so fun. And your passion for teaching, just like, as we’ve connected through the club, and when you reached out about the podcast and you’re like, I would love to talk about anything, and just your passion for teaching and how excited you are about it really shines through. And I think a lot of teachers right now are feeling really burned out about teaching and maybe don’t have that fire that I definitely recognized in you as you’ve just been talking about it. And obviously there’s nothing wrong with anybody who’s feeling that way, but I just want them to kind of learn from you. Like, your passion shines through. What is it you love about being a teacher, and where do you think that spark comes from? Definitely just the impact that I see on my students. And I mean, don’t get me wrong, we all have the hard days. I have the hard days, too. There are days that I’ve wanted to quit, but it’s like the bigger picture I have to look at and stay focused on and realize that I’m making such a difference in these kids lives, and that’s what I was made to be. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, and I know that I was meant to be a teacher, and that’s what drives me. I love that. And then, like you mentioned, you have those hard days. We all do. We all have days where today is not a good one. What do you do when those come? Lean on my circle. When I say circle, like my coworkers. Find coworkers that you connect with and that are there for you that you can talk to and vent to. And then my husband, obviously, my family, and I’ve just had to learn throughout teaching also to let it go at the door whenever I leave and not bring it home, because that was a big thing in the beginning of my teaching, and it really wore on me a lot. So I’ve had to learn to not let that occur anymore. Oh, 100%. I feel like that is a big one because and actually, the fact that you’ve been able to do that is actually very admirable because they feel like for a lot of teachers, they might try not be like, oh, I’m trying to leave it at the door. But it’s a challenge for sure, and learned a skill. How do you feel like you’ve been able to do that, to leave it at the door when you leave? Physically leave the things at the door, too. No more bringing papers home to grade. I refuse. I was doing that my first year of teaching, and it, like, completely I was feeling burned out in my first year, and I was like, Something’s got to change. But as a teacher, we all can relate to the lack of time that we have for all the things that we need to do, but I just had to say, no more. I have a family, and my kids, my husband, they come first, and I have to find some balance. Absolutely. And I think, like you mentioned, we could just keep working 24/7. There’s always more that could be done, but it’s just kind of finding where to draw that line and where to be like, okay, what I’ve done is enough. And I feel like that might be a lot for some teachers. They never feel like it’s enough. And that’s kind of really the mental piece that we all need to work on in order to be able to truly do that. So you mentioned the balance. So what are some things you do to balance teaching and motherhood? So basically, my teaching is for school, and when I come home, it’s just if I had a hard day, I just have to let it go. And like you said, that’s a learned skill. I mean, it took me a while to do that, but I can honestly say this past school year has really been good about that. Coming home and just leaving everything there or bending to someone on the way home from school, getting it all out and just putting it behind me and then coming in, I’m Mommy now. My kids run to me. I still have the toddlers, so it’s that fun age. They run to me. They’re so happy to see Mommy. So I don’t want to bring home the negativity to them. I want to be Mommy when I’m home, but when I’m at school, I’m going to be full teacher. Yeah, I think, like you mentioned, it’s like being present where you are because a lot of times we might be physically present in one place. We might be physically at home, or we might be physically at school, but then if we’re thinking of other places and we’re not fully there, and then we never fully get that rest or get to let go. And what do you feel like helps you to really make I know you mentioned when you come in, your toddlers come running to you, but you mentioned that it was learned. So do you remember by chance, what is it that helped you make that transition in order to be able to mentally leave it? Yeah, doing the work on the weekends and my kids trying to I mean, it was just probably a year, a year and a half ago, before this past full year. It was the year before I was still bringing things home, not quite as often, but like, my son, he would be trying to get my attention, I can’t play right now. I’m doing this, I’m doing this. And my husband, he talked with me and was like, home is for home. And I was like, you’re so right. I guess I didn’t realize he had to make me realize, like, my kids need me at home, and I don’t need to be doing these things at home. Yes, I could be because we have so much to do, but I don’t want to be, and my kids don’t want me to be. And they’re going to remember they’re little only once, and I want to be present with them now during that time. Fully present. Absolutely. I mean, our children, those of us who are teachers and moms, we don’t want to of course, we call our students our kids, too. We love them, but we don’t want our own children to sacrifice because of our love for our students. And it’s really finding that balance of, yeah, we’re teacher at this time, and then we’re mom at this time and really having that physical and mental separation between the two. Yeah. I think the transition for me comes from my drive home. Just my kids aren’t in the car with me. They may be this school year, but I’ll find another way around that. But just turning off the teacher mode, getting into mommy mode, anticipating my walk through the door, and they come running to me. I love that. I love the drive home because it is a physical transition, and you can use that as a mental one, too, when you’re like, oh, I am leaving school. I am driving home. If it was a hard day, you can put on speaker phone or put in your AirPods or whatever and vent, get it out there. Or if it’s like, maybe I’m okay, maybe I’ll turn on a podcast. Maybe I’ll turn on an audiobook and really kind of mentally transition. I love that. I love the idea of a commute is, like, transition time. And this is something for me. When I went from teaching to working from home was actually I realized that commute was really helpful, and I realized, like, oh, my, just walk out of my office. I don’t have that anymore. So I had to figure out a different way to get that transition time. But for those who are in the classroom working in a physical school, maybe if you’re working virtually, you’d be like me and need to figure out another way. But I think that can definitely be super helpful. Really interesting that you brought up. Is it’s your husband who kind of pointed it out to you? Like you maybe didn’t notice it was going on? Is that what was happening? Yeah. I realized my son was asking, but I guess I was making excuses like, oh, he’s okay. Let me just go play with your toys in the room. It’s not that bad. I’ll be finished in a few minutes. That’s the thing. I kept telling myself, I’ll be finished soon. I can play with him, but someone looking at me from the outside or seeing the whole picture. Yeah, he had to point it out to me. And then I realized, yeah, I’m not doing this anymore. And the best way to do that is not to bring it home at all. Hey, teachers. If you are always on the hunt for engaging math games, purposeful practice, and ways to motivate your students so they can actually enjoy math, you will definitely want to check out Digitalmathgames.com. This site offers a growing library of online, ad free games for kids in grades three through six that are self checking, so there’s no prep or grading for you. If you are excited about the possibilities, head on over to Digitalmathgames.com to get started with a 14 day free trial. That’s right. You and your students can test it out for free for two weeks. Just go to Digitalmathgames.com to get started. I’m Angela Watson, creator of the 40 hours teacher workweek program. We’re kicking off the next cohort of 40 Hours this summer, and I want you to join us. Over educators have already used the 40 Hours program to maximize their contractual hours and stop working endlessly on nights and weekends. Visit fortyhtw.com to learn more, including how to attend our free online summit on July 9 and 10th, where you can learn time saving tips from other classroom teachers. That’s 40 htw.com. I love that. And you found what works for you and maybe for somebody else, maybe another teacher listening. Well, I have a good routine and I bring stuff home. Is that wrong? And we’re not saying it’s wrong. It’s finding what works for you. And I do think for a lot of people what works for you, turquoise will work for them because there is a whole physical thing to it. And I think that does help. But it doesn’t mean there’s one right or wrong way, whatever. It’s finding what works for you. So I’m so glad you found what worked for you. Okay, so when you find yourself, because I know there are probably still even now, time to time where you are home and you find yourself, like thinking about school again or worrying about something to do with school, do you find it easier to redirect now? And if so, what is it that you do when that happens? I do definitely find it easier. I either just go start playing with my kids, take them outside, or I read a book. I have a lot of books on my phone and I will read. We’ll turn on a show, I’ll start watching a movie with them. Or if I have to check something on my phone, it will be quick. I can get it out of my head and move on from there. But I am not going to sit there and let it consume me as before. I love what you mentioned about getting it out of your head. Because sometimes maybe a spark of inspiration or an idea will come up and if you don’t get it out of your head our brains are trying to make sure we don’t forget information or that we don’t forget something, or they’re trying to protect us, basically. And they’re like, oh, don’t forget this, don’t forget that. So if we get it all down, it’s kind of like we talked about with the club coaching call, about getting your schedule down and all your to dos and everything. When you get it out of your brain, then your brain no longer needs to worry about it and you can just be present in the moment. Yes. And it’s so true. And it works. It really does. It’s pretty fascinating. And the funny thing is, a lot of times we feel more busy that’s when we think we don’t have time for that. But really I feel like that’s when we need it even more. Our brains are so funny and now we have calendars and things, notes at our fingertips on our phone. Everybody has an app that you can just if you’re thinking of something, okay, quickly type it into your app, whatever, so you can go back to it later and then you won’t forget about it. Yeah, and it can be really simple. I just keep notes on my notes on my apple, just basic notes app. Or if I really want to make sure I don’t forget, I’ll just email it to myself and then I’ll see it tomorrow. Yeah, I’ll do that too. Just get it out of your head and be like, okay, got it down, now I can let it go. Yes, that’s right. Okay. I also wanted to ask you, so like I mentioned, you did recently join us in Wife, Teacher, Mommy Club and you were on our latest call. Is it just the first one that you’ve attended so far? Yes, I’m trying to remember. Okay, cool. And what have you enjoyed about the club so far? Like the first call that you attend? Let’s talk about the call first. So what did you enjoy about the coaching? What was it called? I know there was consequence and the action and oh, yes, so there’s the circumstances and thoughts. That’s like the big thing. Yeah, okay. I loved that. Just how you made where you slow down and you can just become realizing what is going on. Like, you’re sitting there thinking about it in depth and that makes a huge difference. It can make you change your thinking. Yeah. And that was our model mastery call, where we really dive into the model, and I shared that. So for everybody listening, the model is circumstances, so our circumstances are neutral and then it’s our thoughts about it that create our feelings, and then our feelings drive our actions, and actions create our results. So that’s why it matters so much, is because essentially it’s not the circumstance that creates our results, but it’s the thought that leading down through the model creates the results that we see in our lives. So it’s like, for example, we’re talking about mental and physical separation or whatever. It’s not like the fact that I am a teacher or like I’m at home with my kids right now or whatever, it’s that you’re thinking about school or whatever, and it’s changing that thought. But a lot of times, first it’s really just bringing the awareness. It’s like, oh, this is what is happening in my life. And then that’s where you kind of get your power back because a lot of times we just don’t realize what’s going on. Yeah, we’re going to do one of those calls at least once a month for the model mastery because the model takes some time to learn. It’s not like you come to one call and you’re like, oh, I know it all now. It takes time, like you mentioned. What were all the things again? It’s like you’re like mind blown, but yeah, I still don’t remember all of it. Right. I don’t remember what each letter stands for, but it stuck with me. I knew it was about being aware of our thoughts. Yes. And I’ve been studying it for four years now and I’m still learning from it. So I feel like it’s just a tool that we just continue to learn how to use and that’s what we do in the club, which is a lot of fun. Have you had a chance to dive into the resources yet in the club? I’m not sure if you have or not. Yes, and they are wonderful. I cannot wait to get back in the classroom and use them. What have been some of your favorites that you’ve seen? So there was like Addition and Subtraction, like all these packages that had different themes with them that I loved. It was like monthly themes. Yes. You got a lot of that digital planner, but the one that you could print out to and put in the binder, all of them. I loved all of them. I’ve just been digging, digging through them. It’s so much fun. I’m so glad that you love the resources. And that’s really where we started. We had the resources and then it was like, you know what, I want to do coaching too. So we just kind of have this all in one, all in one thing. So what would you say to someone who’s on the fence about joining you and I inside the club? Take the plunge. It is so worth it. I mean, not just for the resources. Yes, those are great, but it’s like the community I didn’t realize and I think it started by I saw it through an ad on Facebook. It was like something popped up on my feed and I was like, okay, what’s this? And I clicked. And then it was about Educate and rejuvenate. And then I saw the coaching call, so I was like, well, let me join and see what it’s about. And I mean, it is just a great community of teachers and resources to use in the classroom, but also resources to use in your life, everyday life, through the podcast, through the coaching calls. I’m so excited. Next week we’re going to hear from Joe and Christina. It’s going to be so much fun. I guess by the time people are listening to this, it will have already happened, but the replays will be available. So fun. So what are your goals for the summer? So one thing that I really want to get better at is small group instruction. So I’ve been looking at actually some resources and I’m so excited for the upcoming Educate Rejuvenate classes that are going to be on that. And that’s the main thing. I just want to make sure that in my small group instruction, I’m giving the best my students the best time. I’m using my time wisely from the winter event. My team did an awesome one about literature circles and small groups with that you might want to check out that one really good. And that’s with using the resources that are in the club. So yeah, well, cool. Okay, what are some final words of advice you have for those who are listening to the podcast today? About finding the balance or mentally checking out from teaching and finding that time with your kiddos work 100%. I could not have said that any better. Thank you so much Shakina, for your time and coming on the podcast and sharing your knowledge and experience with everybody who is listening today. And it’s been so much fun. Okay everybody, we will talk next week. Thank you so much for having me. If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to hit subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. And if you’re ready to take the next step and work with me and take everything you learn on this podcast to the ten X level, I’d love for you to join me. Inside Wife’s Future Mommy Club you’ll get access to a library of 1000 plus resources that will help you take back your time. The resources alone easily pay off your club membership. Plus if you join us on the quarterly plan or above, you’ll get our luxury leatherbound Teacher Planner, a $50 value shipped to your door for free. But in my humble opinion, the most important part of the club is the opportunity to get coached on whatever comes your way that you can thrive in teaching and life. You’ll get to join weekly coaching calls with me and fellow club coaches to not only listen and consume this content, but really apply it to your life. This is where the magic happens. The doors are closed the majority of the year, but you can request a personalized invitation. As a podcast listener, simply go to wipteachermomy.com podcastinvite to learn more. You can also find the link in the show notes. I hope to see you face to face on Zoom soon. Inside white teacher mommy club.

Trakena Price [00:24:55]:

Teacher Mommy raise the gala teacher mommy you together you will break your gap for me.