From Veteran Teacher Slump to Best Teacher Life with Hannah Guajardo [episode 115]

115) Dec 12- From Veteran Teacher Slump to Best Teacher Life with Hannah Guajardo

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You are listening to episode number 115 of Wife, teacher, mommy, the podcast from Veteran Teacher Slump to best teacher life with  Gudo. In this episode, you will hear about how  felt she was in a slump and how she got out of it. Plus, we talk about how we can have compassion and empathy for ourselves and others.

 

Let’s go.

 

Someone’s gotta take care of you. It’s the time or resources you lack. Teacher Mommy, they have got your back. It’s the Gala Teacher Mom. They’ll bridge the Gala Teacher Mommy. Between your life and class, you and your family. They’ll bridge the Gala Teacher Mommy. They’ll bridge the Gala Teacher Moms to me.[00:01:00]

 

Welcome to Wife Teacher Mommy, the podcast. I’m Kelsey Sorenson, 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 started.

 

Certified as a life coach to help you finally kick burnout 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.

 

I’m so excited for today’s interview on Wife Teach Mommy the podcast. It has been a while since I’ve had a member of the Wife Teach Mommy Club community come on to the podcast and it was definitely time and I’m so thrilled that  is the one to be on the show today because she is absolutely [00:02:00] incredible.

 

I first, um, came in contact with  at our Summer Educate Amory Juveny event in June of this year, which is 2023. I know we’re on a podcast, so you might be listening to this, like, podcast she’s come since then is November right now. So it’s about just about like five months since she joined us, and it’s been incredible to see her growth and I’m not going to share too much right now as you’ll get to hear all of it in her words and just a few minutes during the interview and she’ll explain it so much better.

 

But I will just say that I’ve been able to see her regularly on coaching sessions because she shows up, she comes very regularly and She’s just become so much more self aware, she’s been building so much more compassion for her incredible self, as I want all of you to be able to. I don’t want you using the tools you hear on the podcast to like beat yourself up, be like, why am I keep thinking this or why do we keep doing this?

 

No, this is just to help us see what’s [00:03:00] going on and have so much compassion for ourselves in the process. And  has been a great example of that. Now I won’t take too long on this. Before diving into today’s amazing interview, but if you also find yourself in a teacher slump, whether you’re a veteran teacher or a new teacher or a homeschool teacher, yes, if you’re one of our homeschool mamas, you’re a teacher too.

 

Um, one of our members actually recently said that the club has helped her feel comfortable with giving herself that title. But no matter what type of teacher you are, I’d love for you to come join us at our Winter Educate and Rejuvenate event. Like I mentioned,  just started with us at our Summer Educate and Rejuvenate event.

 

And we have our next one coming up, but it’s our Winter Educate and Rejuvenate on December 28th, 2023. There’s only a few days after Christmas and we know you don’t have much time until you go back to school So it’s just one day. We’re all together And it’s not about learning all the things and focusing on teaching in school.

 

It’s The Winter Educate and Rejuvenate event is all about refreshing yourself. We start the day with a [00:04:00] yoga and meditation, then I’m going to be teaching I’m still planning the content, but it is going to be. Very geared on the new year and you and what you want to do in the next year, reflecting on this past year, like it’s not going to be about like, okay, here’s what you need to do in your classroom, but here’s what we can do for you to refresh yourself.

 

And then we’re going to have Brittany Blackwell talking about how you can simplify your life with artificial intelligence. And then we’re going to have a panel with all of our wife, teacher, mommy coaches, which is going to be so much fun. We’re also going to have a celebration ceremony with all of our members.

 

And so we’re inviting our members who’ve been in for, a certain amount of time to apply for the celebration ceremony where they can celebrate all that they’ve accomplished in the year. Because we figure people don’t usually give you an award for self care, so we are going to start doing that. We’re going to start giving out awards for self care.

 

So we’re going to have our first time we get to do that there as well. So it’s going to be a lot of fun. I’d love for you to join us. It’s for members only. That’s the other difference about this one. That’s why it’s a [00:05:00] little bit smaller and more intimate. But we have a special 9 trial where you get your first full month for just 9.

 

And you get to join us at this event, which is going to be a lot of fun.. So if you want to learn more, the link will be in your show notes. So you can also go to educateandrejuvenate. com to learn more. Now if you’re listening to this later, that link will take you to, if we have a current Educate and Rejuvenate event.

 

Or if not, just go to our website and sign up for our email list and you’ll be notified the next time that we have an event. Okay, let’s get into today’s interview with . I will read her bio and then we will get right into it. So  began her professional career as a special education teacher 18 years ago in the same district she grew up in.

 

She loves the community that she teaches in and enjoys the shared experience. experiences that she and her students have had.  graduated with her bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies in 2004 from Texas Tech University. She then went on to get her teaching certification in special education at West Texas A& M University. In 2012,  received her master’s degree in [00:06:00] education at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.  taught middle school as a special education inclusion teacher for 14 years.

 

She is now in her fourth year of teaching inclusion at an elementary school in a large school district that she grew up in right outside of Dallas, Texas. Okay, let’s dive into our interview with the amazing  Guajardo.

 

 

 

Kelsey: Okay, so welcome . I’m so excited to have you here today on Wife, teacher, mommy, the podcast, and that you took the time to be here. So glad we’re finally here. We’ve talked about it for a while.

 

Hannah: Thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here and I really appreciate you having me on the show today.

 

Kelsey: Yes. I just can’t wait for everything that you have to share with our listeners because I feel like I can chat all day about like the tools and everything and how much they impact teachers in their lives, like both inside and outside the classroom. But it’s a whole nother whole thing to hear it from like.

 

Somebody who’s not the coach, sharing how they’ve impacted them [00:07:00] too. Right. So really excited to do that. And um, but before we dive in, can you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and how you came to be an educator and what you’re doing in education right now?

 

Hannah: Yeah, my name is  Gudo and I am a special education teacher. This is my 18th year in education, and I, um, did 14 years in middle school. And then this is my fourth year in in elementary school. And if you haven’t ever done that before, they’re completely different. So it’s almost like not a veteran teacher.

 

Sometimes I feel that way sometimes. And um, I’m an inclusion teacher. So do you know kind of what an inclusion teacher is or,

 

Kelsey: Yes. Yeah, but explain it for those who don’t on the, who are listening.

 

Hannah: Okay. So an inclusion teacher is someone who actually, um, pushes in or pulls out small groups, or they push into the elementary, I mean, into the general ed classroom. So [00:08:00] basically I have a caseload of students and they’re all in special education, and they have an IEP and the IEP states, like how many minutes you’re supposed to service each child. So whenever you, whenever I go in there, I kind of know, okay, this person has this many minutes and they need help with these accommodation, with these goals and use these accommodations.

 

And so it’s really neat. But, um, and there’s actually 14 areas in which you can have a diagnosis. So you can get a student that you’ve never worked with. Like this year I have a, um, a visually impaired. He has no vision. So that’s kind of brand new and that’s something that I’m getting to, um, know more about. So that’s really good.

 

Kelsey: Yeah, that’s awesome. Like learning about all these different like ways you can help these different students and no matter what they need, right? Mm-Hmm.

 

Hannah: Yeah, it’s, and some of the areas, some of the more common areas that you might think of when you have a student with a, with a, a disability. Some of them [00:09:00] are, we have like other health impaired related to ADHD. We have, um. Like a learning disability, like maybe due to dyslexia. We also have students with like visual impairments, low, low vision, no vision.

 

We have students that have autism, so there’s just a lot of different students and you may not have all of them at once, or you may have them all at once. And so just knowing each child and what they need, and even there’s the saying, um, when you met a person with disability, you’ve met a person with disability.

 

It’s not like you just all of a sudden have all the things and know everything about. The disability just because you have one

 

person with that disability.

 

Kelsey: Right, because everybody’s different and their experiences in life are different. And the way like, and even a disability is just one factor about a person. It’s not everything about them either, right?

 

Hannah: yeah..

 

Kelsey: Okay. So you are working with this caseload of students. How about how many do you have right now

 

Hannah: I have about 15 students that I’m servicing [00:10:00] right now.

 

Kelsey: Okay. So you have like this like variety of students and I’m sure you have like different challenges that you come up and face like on a daily basis, like as a veteran teacher with like, you know,

 

Hannah: Yes, yes.

 

Kelsey: goes into teaching, not just like these students, but just teaching in general. So what are some of those challenges that you face daily as a veteran teacher?

 

’cause we’re kind of talking today about, um, . Like kind of the veteran teacher slump I mean, I think I even remember you saying this at one point. It’s like, I’ve been teaching for 18 years. Why am I struggling? And it’s like, you know, we all do, right?

 

Even when we’re veteran teachers. So what are some of those challenges that you face?

 

Hannah: First of all, being a teacher is just challenging in itself, whether you’re a first year or a veteran teacher. Um, and in education we just get thrown curve balls every single day. And so we don’t always know what we’re working with and we just ha kind of have to go with the flow. And I was thinking about, I’ve been thinking about baseball a lot because since my, since I was a child, I’ve been watching the Texas Rangers and they just won [00:11:00] the World Series on November 1st. And so there’s this, um.

 

Kelsey: Yay.

 

Hannah: I know, I’m so excited. But there’s this particular, yeah, there’s this, um, certain kind of ball that the pitchers throw. It’s called a change up. And so it’s, it’s meant to kind of deceive the, um, the batter that’s, well, they think it’s gonna be a fast ball, and it turns out to be a lot slower. And so it’s really meant to deceive and it can, it can, it can deceive even the most veteran of baseball players. And while I’m not saying that in education we’re anybody’s trying to us, there is a lot of different moving parts and it can be tricky

 

to kind of navigate all the different parts of education.

 

Kelsey: and there have definitely been a lot of curve balls in education. Like, I mean, even think just a couple years ago we had a full pandemic and went virtual and then coming back and then like all the changes that came with that .

 

Hannah: Yes.

 

Kelsey: besides Covid, there’s just always curve balls and new policies [00:12:00] and new challenges with students or different things that come up.

 

So,

 

and like you said, you feel like a first year teacher all over again as you like, navigate all the new things. Right.

 

Hannah: WE’ve kind of blazed our own trail and kind of figured out what’s works for us. And then when we get in the middle of a really hard season, we’re in the thick of it. We’re beating ourselves up with words like, I’m a veteran teacher.

 

I should know this by now. Or. When in reality each year brings its new challenges. And so you have to learn things that you’ve never learned before.

 

Kelsey: Yeah. Every year, like we are lifelong learners as teachers, we’re always learning and having to rise to new challenges. The other thing that I’ve noticed that teachers like will do too, is like, you might be in a new position or a new grade level, or for you, you went from what, like secondary to like this inclusion, right?

 

Hannah: Yes,

 

 

 

Kelsey: That is a huge change. So it’s not like, you know, oh, I taught. And even those in elementary, you’re like, oh, I taught fifth grade and now I’m teaching second grade. That’s a new [00:13:00] change. Right? So whatever it is like. You know, there’s always changes and even if you’re in the same grade level, there are changes.

 

So had to add that on, like give yourself some credit and grace when these changes come up. For sure.

 

Hannah: Yes, definitely.

 

Kelsey: Do you have anything to add to that?

 

Hannah: I just want, I want others that are hearing this podcast to realize that you are seen and you’re heard, and if you are struggling right now, then reach out because it’s really important to have that support system, whether you choose to join Wack Teacher, your mommy, or whether you choose to have another support system.

 

It’s just really important to have a support system.

 

Kelsey: Yes, I, I 100% agree like we are hardwired for human connection. Like that is one of the things that, like, I was even listening, so you know, I’m a life coach and one of the things that comes up a lot of times, like with the model is circumstances are neutral. You know, but I listened to another, like, it was kind of a professional development for coaches and it’s like, but relationships aren’t always necessarily neutral [00:14:00] because we do like.

 

Have this innate desire for that connection and you know, so it does impact us when things like maybe aren’t exactly right and everything, and that’s okay. And that’s normal to acknowledge too. You know, like, and we, and if we don’t find that connection, like if we’re teaching and we just feel all isolated and alone, then you just, it really helps to have somebody to lean on instead of feeling like you’re all on your own in with all those challenges that come up.

 

For sure.

 

Hannah: That is so true.

 

Kelsey: So what do. , what do you think adds to the stress of being a veteran teacher?

 

Hannah: Well, I was thinking a lot about it, about that question. I was thinking that it’s a. Part to comparison, which we seem to do a lot because of social media, but

 

it’s not really fair to compare ourselves to other classroom teachers, homeschool moms, because I know we have some homeschool teachers that are also out here in the podcast listening. But each situation is different and [00:15:00] unique, and it may be completely opposite to what you were dealing with at that time. And plus, there’s so much that we don’t know about the one we are comparing ourselves to. Like on social media, we only see one snippet of their life. Um, so I was thinking about like, well actually it’s like the, you know, the whole iceberg thing where you only see the tip of the

 

iceberg.

 

Kelsey: There’s like an image of an iceberg and more of it is like underneath, just explaining it for those listening who are like, wait, I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s like an image of we might, maybe we’ll just need to find one and link to it, . Um, but there’s like, you see the tip of the iceberg and you see like their success or whatever at the top, but you don’t necessarily see all the other stuff at the bottom.

 

Like the challenges they rose above to get there, or the challenges that are still going on that you just can’t see. So yeah.

 

Hannah:

 

It reminds me so much about this video that it’s called Empathy, human Connection. And it’s actually a video that talks about people that are going through some different struggles in their life [00:16:00] and it takes you through the day of a of different people in a hospital. And it’s really cool ’cause no one knows what these people are struggling with except the audience of the video where it shows like above their head kind of what they’re, um, struggling with. And it’s like a powerful reminder of how important empathy is, empathy with each other, and, um, compare compassion within ourselves as well.

 

Kelsey: Yes, 100%. And I watched that video, um, which we are going to link to in the show notes. I actually had not seen that video yet, so . For those of you who haven’t seen it, like  said, it shows like all these people and there are things like, it’s like in a hospital and I feel like, and it, it was done by like Cleveland Medical Clinic or something like that, right?

 

Hannah: Right.

 

Kelsey: And it takes place in the hospital where there’s so many ups and downs in the hospital, right? Like for one, there’s like a mom who’s like hoping to hold her baby who’s in the nicu. There’s like people who are, um, . You know, waiting for a diagnosis and worried about it. There are ones who are getting diagnostics.

 

There’s like a mom [00:17:00] and a child visiting their husband and dad for the final time, but then there’s like a nurse who’s like going on vacation for the first time tomorrow, and there’s um, someone else there who just found out who’s going to be a dad. And it’s, and then another person who’s annoyed because he is been waiting for three hours and it’s just like, wow.

 

Like all these things going around, like the hustle and bustle. Just everybody’s experience is so different and, oh, that video it, I just watched it a little bit ago for the first time, so it like just hit me and I’m like, oh, that was such a good one, . I’m so glad that you shared it.

 

Hannah: And we’re so, we’re so quick

 

to jump to conclusions, you know, and make assumptions when we

 

don’t know the whole situation.

 

Kelsey: We, and. Oftentimes we get so absorbed in what we have going on too. And not that there’s anything wrong with that, like when we’re suffering or when we have things going on, like of course like we’re gonna focus on that pain or that suffering or what we have going on, but then also just be able to see like, oh, like looks like somebody else is going through something too.

 

And that can be even a way to [00:18:00] connect, you know?

 

Yeah, and I think that really ties into what you said about comparison too, like how you talked about social media and the iceberg and how we can either look at other people and compare ourselves like, oh, they’re doing so much better than me. I’m doing so much worse or whatever, and that makes us feel bad.

 

But then we can also compare and be like, oh, they, like, let’s say somebody at your school has cancer or something. You’re like, oh, well my like, you know, problem is nothing compared to theirs. I shouldn’t be feeling bad. Like, have you ever done this?  Anna?

 

Hannah: Yes, I have done that because you think my situation cannot be compared to their situation because they’re going through so much more. But grief is just a

 

process that we all go through and like I have a disability and I, I sometimes have to go through the process of grieving, the loss of being able to use my legs. And then people say, oh, but any people have even come to me and said, oh, but mine is, no, not, not anywhere compared to what you’re going through. [00:19:00] But I really just wanna just empower everyone to just to be able to, um, claim and accept what you have that you’re going through, and let it be something that teaches you and helps you through life and not worry about whether it’s

 

the same or, or worse or better than somebody else.

 

And not, not worry how it compares to others, but instead how it makes you grow.

 

Kelsey: Yeah. And how like I really think it can be like a both and you know, like their suffering is valid and they feel it, and you can have empathy for them and it doesn’t invalidate anything that you’re feeling as well. And it can just kind of bring that connection And I. Um, so how can we show that empathy towards others and compassion towards ourselves?

 

Hannah: Well, um, empathy towards others, it can offer us. An opportunity to get curious about why a child or a coworker or a parent or admin is making the decision they’re making in that moment[00:20:00]

 

instead of letting our thoughts about the circumstance negatively impact the situation by what we are feeling. And this is something that I learned through the Wife, teacher Mommy Club. The model that we use in the club, um, is a life coaching model developed by Brooke Castillo from the Life Coaching School. And I can’t begin to explain what a difference this has made in my life as a teacher. So thank you, Kelsey, for bringing the life coaching to the cl life, coaching into the club, and getting the certification yourself to do that.

 

Thank you so much. Um, so in the club I’ve learned that circumstances in our life give us thoughts and sometimes people in the club will be like, oh, I’m thinking of a negative thought. But you know, thoughts are just something that we do. We think them because we’re human. That’s just something naturally that we do.

 

And there’s like 70,000 thoughts, I

 

think that you think a And so

 

the circumstances, um, well. So that’s just naturally how we do, how we live our life as we [00:21:00] think things. But if there is a circumstance within everything that we have and that we face, and the circumstance is definitely something you could prove in a court of law. For example, my student yells across the room and gets out of their seat multiple times during the day. That is a circumstance because it’s observable and measurable. But then we can have a thought about the circumstance, like my student does not respect me and refuses to pay attention to follow directions. This thought produces a feeling that we have about the circumstance. So the feeling I might have with this student could be frustration or maybe resentment. So may I may act a certain way toward the student, and this may give me an undesired result. But then showing empathy towards the student, getting curious about their behavior can produce an entirely new thought if we are intentional about using the model in our life.

 

Kelsey: Yes. You’re so right, , and I think the way that you explained the model and also like how a lot of times it come up, comes up when we’re teaching our students. Then those challenges that we talked about at the beginning of this episode kind of came, come up [00:22:00] and it’s instead of like, you know, thinking

 

Like, oh, this student is being so frustrating, and then we feel like resentment or whatever. We can also just get curious about their behavior and it can, you know, lead us in a different direction. So it really is so, so powerful how the model can play in our lives. But I also want to mention that it doesn’t mean that because we know the model, we’re all of a sudden going to never be frustrated with the challenges that comes up again, because like you mentioned, we are human and those do come up, but it’s what brings us awareness.

 

So we can even observe after the fact. Like it can be like, you know, the students have left at the end of the day and you’re like, huh. There was that time I got really frustrated. I was feeling a lot of this today. Why do I think that happened? And it can just kind of help give us awareness of something that already happened.

 

And when we do this, we wanna do it from a place of self-compassion rather than judging ourselves for the way we showed up. It really is to bring us awareness, because sometimes what tends to happen. And this, again, I wanna even mention this has happened with me a lot as I’ve become a [00:23:00] coach. And sometimes I’ll be like, I’m a live coach.

 

Why am I doing this? And it’s because I’m human, right? . And the same with all of you as you were learning these tools, it’s like, okay, I know the model now, but it’s not to use it against myself. It is to just bring awareness to my life. Um, okay. So the second part of that question, it like, kind of as I was mentioning, how can we have compassion with ourselves as we, you know, start

 

Seeing the model, as we start seeing things with the model, how can we continue to have that compassion with ourselves? How have you done that?

 

Hannah: Well, I think that being kind to yourself, giving yourself grace and practicing the type of self care that works best for you. It’s crucial to your mental health. You don’t mental health. You don’t want to just say, oh, self-care. Let me go do self-care. That’s just such a, a buzzword right now. And you don’t want it to be something that you say, oh yeah, I did self care today.

 

But you have to find the kind that actually works for you.

 

Kelsey: I.

 

Hannah: Yes, yes, yes. You have to actually have the, um, kind of self care that’s gonna help you maintain a healthy work-life balance. And for many of us, the tools [00:24:00] we need to, in order to do that. Well, well, many of us lack the tools we need in order to do that. So I think that’s where, um, I feel like white teacher mommy can make a difference in our lives. The tools we use within the model can help us navigate the difficult days that we have as educators. Before I joined White Teacher, mommy, um, I did not have much of a work life balance. So just for reference for everybody’s listening. I joined the club back in June, the Educate and Rejuvenate Online conference. So coming into the school year, I knew I wanted to do things differently. ’cause last year was a very difficult year for me. I would work 12 hour days and even on the weekends, I literally felt that I was in the midst of a veteran teacher slump. And the hardest part about being an educator is that there’s always something to do when you leave for the day, you’re not completely done. But what I failed to realized is that it’s okay to not have everything on your to-do list completed. Um, it’s okay to prioritize what’s most important and then leave the rest until the next [00:25:00] day. And like, um, you can even have a tado list like, um, Christina Kuzmic says, I think that’s really great.

 

That said that you know,

 

where focus on what you’ve done and focus on your wins. And I remember, I actually remember the very first week this year that I left at my contract time every single day and nothing happened. It was like a, I know, right? It, yeah, it was an eye opening experience for me because the building was still intact and I was much more refreshed and my students still were able to learn all the things I’d prepared to teach them.

 

Kelsey: , can we just stop there for a second and celebrate the fact that that is such a huge change, like you went for 12 hour days, even on the weekends to leaving it contract time,

 

Hannah: Yes.

 

Kelsey: celebrate that. Win for a set. , like that is incredible.

 

Hannah: Yeah,

 

it’s

 

Kelsey: how did you get to this point? Like how were you able to do that?

 

Hannah: I just feel that. I just, well, I just remember how [00:26:00] hard it was last year and then over the summer I had a lot of things that I kind of wanted to change about how I approached things. And it wasn’t just the teacher burnout, but it was also like how I designed my, um, rules and how I get the procedures in place.

 

And just

 

bringing everything that I learned. I’ll learn to educate and rejuvenate. Plus some things I had learned from, um, the, um, an Watson’s group too, and I just kind of

 

Kelsey: Oh yeah. She’s awesome. Yeah.

 

Hannah: Yeah.

 

=through the club. I’ve learned to look at life differently. I mean, we’re people first, right? We’re wives,

 

moms, daughters at first, and then we’re educators, right? Yeah, I think like with d Kelsey and other entrepreneurs that might be listening too, I mean, running an online business, it’s not like you have a nine to five job, right? So you could,

 

you’re never really off the clock unless you actually like set a boundary for yourself. I’m really intentional about your time. Like you have to say, Hey, it’s, it’s, it’s five o’clock today. I know I can be on here until [00:27:00] midnight tonight, but I’m gonna. Set a boundary. I’m going to sit down with my kids, going to take a walk outside, go exercise. And so that’s something important for all the entrepreneurs out there right now because we know that you can’t just clock out and be done.

 

Kelsey: Yeah. Yeah, so true. And I really find that that is a. Similarity. ’cause you know, I’ve done both. I’ve done teaching and I remember thinking that, oh, if I weren’t teaching, then that’s when things would be better. You know, things would be way less stressful if I didn’t have to go to the classroom every day.

 

And then I actually was kind of writing about this in my book too. Like I thought changing that circumstance was going to change how I felt, like if I got overwhelmed or burned out. But then I become literally my own boss where I get to decide and. I was running into the same thing. I was working so much and trying to get so many things done.

 

So I’ve had to learn that it’s not necessarily the circumstance. Part of it was me and telling my, like me telling myself I had to do all these things and really questioning that. Like, well, do I need to do all these things? And that applies to those who are [00:28:00] teachers too. Like, do I need to grade ? All of these papers?

 

Or can I just like select which ones are most important to grade? Or do I have to work 12 hour days or can I leave at my contract time? Or for homeschool parents, like do I have to do every single thing or go to every single activity? No, you do not. It’s just like, you know. Finding that right balance. You wanna choose what you wanna do because you want to do it because you feel good about it.

 

And not necessarily because like, oh, I’m gonna feel guilty if I don’t do this. You know, then you’re gonna wanna look at that. You know, just, I mean, we could talk all day about that,

 

Hannah: Yes.

 

Kelsey: I do think that sometimes turning off, I think even, especially for women, I feel like we just tend to ruminate on our to-do lists a lot.

 

And it really is, it takes some effort to learn how to turn it off. Like you might even need, like one thing I worked with with my life coach personally actually was like actually having a routine for turning off. Like kind of like, okay, what do you do to kind of like signal to yourself that, okay, it’s my transition time is what [00:29:00] we called it.

 

’cause I did work from home, you know?

 

And I was like, okay, I would like . You know, I would read a book, like a non-work-related book in my office for 15 minutes. That would then help my brain transition to like, not just from immediate office to home and still thinking about work. You know? So just finding what works for you is gonna be different for everyone.

 

I’ve heard of some teachers say that listening to like . A podcast or audiobook on the way home can help with that too. Um, sorry I went on a little tangent there, but I think that was just such a good point that you made that that I think is so for everybody.

 

Hannah: yeah. I just wanna thank you, Kelsey for all that you’ve done to help me since joining the club in June. Why teacher Mommy is really there to help you through the highs and the lows. I’m learning to prioritize my to-do list, remember my wins, and my favorite quote from Why teacher Mommy is, do something today that your future self will thank you for later, because sometimes I’ll be like, oh, I’ll do tomorrow. Or I’ll do that whenever I feel better. And then you might not ever feel the way you [00:30:00] think you should feel in order to complete the task that you need to do. And so, um, you know, just it’s the advice that y’all have given me through the countless podcast. I’ve listened to about 98 of your podcasts so far. And, um, the last coach sessions and the community, the community of educators, it’s with that I’ve met with the life teacher, mommy, that’s really helped me and helped bring a perspective shift.

 

Kelsey: and , I just have to say like, I’m so impressed with how much you learned and applied these tools since you joined back in June. Like I remember, so you got coached to educate and rejuvenate. Chrissy was coaching at the time. You raised your hand and got coached. Um. Before we dive too much into like how senior growth in the club, can you tell me a little bit, what was that experience like when you came on and got coached for the first time?

 

Hannah: Yes, so I do remember the first time I was coached, it was during Educate and Rejuvenate over the summer in June. And, um, there were about, I think there were like 300 people watching where I got coached. [00:31:00] And so they asked if we wanted

 

to come in and get coached. And so basically they brought me on the screen and, um. My, they asked what did I wanna bring to coaching that day? And it was something that I was thinking about that wasn’t educated, relate, education related at the moment, but it still transfers to my life as an educator. And that was about my, my disability and navigating life through, um, with, with having a disability. And I do

 

remember, like,

 

Kelsey: remember that.

 

Hannah: yeah, and I remember, um, just the overwhelming amount of support that I received from everybody in the community. And it just really encouraged me.

 

Kelsey: Yeah. That’s the one thing I love when we do, the one thing I love about group coaching, I feel like people get really nervous to come on and that was so brave and vulnerable of you to come on during educate and rejuvenate. ’cause that’s like . Probably the biggest audience we ever have for coaching, like you’ve seen in the club.

 

Sometimes it’s like just a handful of people depending on the call, you know? ’cause people, people don’t come to every call. You’re really awesome at coming to like so many of the [00:32:00] calls, which I love. Um, because I feel like that’s why you’ve seen so much progress is because you show up and you come to these calls and that’s why you’ve been able to really apply it to your life.

 

But you came on and, you know, people are worried about what people are going to think, but what do people think? All they put in the chat is just support for each other and love and cheering each other on. I have never, ever, not once in the, um, year and a half, over a year and a half now.

 

we’ve been doing this coaching program, we’re closer to two years now, I think. Yeah, just a few months off from two years. I’ve never once seen the negative comment towards anybody being coached. It’s always so much supportive. It is support and is really a safe space, and I just love that. And whether it’s

 

300 people, like when you came on to educate and rejuvenate or just, you know, some of the calls in the club right now have just like a handful of people because we have quite a few calls going on and not everybody, you know, everybody’s schedules are busy, but what I’ve been very impressed with you, , is you are on, like, I swear you are on more calls than you’re not because you [00:33:00] show up, you’re like, I am in this, I’m invested in the club and nothing wrong.

 

I’m not saying anything against the members who aren’t able to attend live or who just listen on the podcast. I do that in many memberships, but I do think that that is why you are getting so much out of this is because you are showing up, you are being coached or listening to others be coached. And even just listening to others be coached, like it helps you learn how to apply the tools or like kind of put your scenario on the other person’s scenario and it gives you the chance to build, like, have empathy for somebody else and kind of just give you another perspective.

 

So, I don’t know, what are your thoughts on that?

 

Hannah: I think it’s, um, I think you’re right because the um. The more I put to put these tools to use. And the more I do show up at these sessions, the more I learn about how myself actually, and how I can, um, use the tools to help better my life. But also, like you said, I’m not always the one being [00:34:00] coached, but it’s really valuable if you’re not like brave or vulnerable to get coached. I’ll learn something every single time I go to a coaching session from other people that are coaching, that are being coached, I mean.

 

Kelsey: Amen. I do too. Like both in the club, when I coach, I learn from people. When I listen to Chrissy or Bonnie Coaching, I learn when I listen to coaching, and because I, again, I invest in other coaching memberships for myself. When I listen to those, I learn from it. Like I. You learn so much just from listening to others.

 

So if that’s like scary to you, like you can start by just listening, it totally works. Like no matter what your comfort level is. So what would you say to somebody who’s considering joining us in the club? I.

 

Hannah: I think I would tell them to, um, give it a try. I mean, it’s not like my first thought whenever I joined the club was, I’m just gonna give it a try. And it worked out really well for me. I mean, there’s a lot of different things that you can do for yourself when you know that you’re feeling burnt out and you can find what works

 

for [00:35:00] you. And this is what worked for me, and I just would say. If you are thinking it might be something that would work for you, then give it a try. It’s, it’s not, it’s not gonna going to do anything but help you if you try it out. And, um, I was thinking about as a veteran teacher too. Um, sometimes we, um, get stuck in our ways, honestly. And there’s this, there’s actually this song, it’s, I know this is off the script again, but, uh, SIA sings this

 

song called

 

Kelsey: I.

 

: Yeah, CLC sings this song called Courage to Change, and basically it’s like

 

saying we don’t have to. Yeah, it’s such a good song. We don’t have to stay here stuck in the weeds. And so if you’re just, um, feeling like you’re a better teacher and you’re stuck in your ways and you really wanna change, you just have to have the courage to do it.

 

Kelsey: love that, . Love that thought. And I love Ty music into podcasts, so I love that you did that.

 

Hannah: I’ll

 

put the for that song in the show notes [00:36:00] too.

 

Kelsey: Perfect. We will add that to the show notes so we can listen to it. I can’t wait. Okay. Anything else you’d like to share before we go?

 

Hannah: Um, I just wanna say that if you’re not, if, if your schedule’s not such to where you can join the lives, I mean, you’re actually gonna get a lot outta the lives, but. One of my models has been, if you’re having a bad day, you can always watch a replay. So, um,

 

Kelsey: Oh, I.

 

Hannah: Yeah, yeah. If you know that it’s been, it’s gonna be a tough day.

 

If you felt all the feels and you need to listen to a podcast on the private podcast, or if you need to listen to, if there’s a live one that, that, that, that day, that’s great. But sometimes there’s not alive every day. So you just have to find another way. And so

 

that’s what comes into play.

 

Kelsey: Yeah, and we’re actually working on making the replay library like even more accessible and easy to get through. And, um, once we get the date based one figured out, we’re going to have where you can even search by topics. If you’re like, this is what I was having a hard [00:37:00] time with today, , you can go find a call specific for that.

 

So it can kind of become like. Netflix for coaching type of thing. So you can find what you need later you can, you know, and we try to have a call at least once a week. This is the first week in quite a long time. We haven’t had a call because of just Thanksgiving, the holiday.

 

But there’s always the replays and the private podcast. I do wanna mention, ’cause I do think, sorry, we’re getting off script again, but realize that even some of our members like . There is a little confusion. So there are two podcasts. This one that you’re listening to right now is Wife, teacher, mommy, the podcast, it’s free, everybody can listen to it anytime.

 

And then there is a private podcast and that is, um, tied to the wife, teacher, mommy club. And that is where you can listen to any of the coaching call replays or any educate and rejuvenate session or any like challenge that we do. Like we have a vision board challenge coming up in January that we’re planning.

 

Um. Any of those replays go on the Club Private podcast. So like  was saying, you could pull it out and listen whenever you need to. [00:38:00]

 

Hannah: Yes, definitely. And also there’s also resources for teachers in the club that I didn’t mention. But

 

my kids

 

Kelsey: yeah.

 

Hannah: have really enjoyed, yes, there’s like, you have access to all of my teacher mommy’s, um, TPT store basically. So, and my kids, we’ve used the, um, the I Spy, um, resources where they, where they actually have to find objects and then use those objects to do math. So that’s fun. And I also have really, um, I’ve loved the sub resources, like whenever you’re. Gonna be ill

 

for just having something there for the substitute. That’s been really helpful too.

 

Kelsey: So glad you found the coaching and the resources and the private podcasts, the replays. I’m gonna have to remember that one. Have a bad day. Watch a replay. Like I love that. rhymes,

 

Hannah: yeah, if you’re having, you can always watch a

 

replay.

 

Kelsey: amazing.

 

Hannah: Yeah.

 

So thank you.

 

Kelsey: Well thank you so much, , for. Coming [00:39:00] on podcast. It has been so fun to chat with you and I’m sure we’re gonna chat even a little bit after we hit stop.

 

But, thank you everybody for listening. We are so, um, grateful for you for taking the time, and we will chat next week.

 

Hannah: Thank you everybody.

 

​[00:40:00]

 

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