PODCAST TRANSCRIPTSteve [Intro]: 00:00 Hello, and welcome to the teacher edition of the Steve Barkley Ponders Out loud podcast. The complexity of teaching is both challenging and rewarding. And my curiosity is peaked whenever I explore with teachers the multiple pathways for facilitating student engagement in the exciting world of learning. This podcast looks to serve teachers as they motivate coach and support their learners.

Steve: 00:31 Supporting students’ emotional needs as they return to school. Whether it’s now, for a summer program, or looking ahead to the fall, teachers are responding to students who have experienced something that none of us as educators have ever experienced in our own schooling backgrounds. Joining us today on the podcast is Phyllis Fagell, who currently works as a school counselor, as well as providing therapy to children, teens, and adults in a private practice. She’s the author of a book titled, “Middle School Matters,” and a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines with columns for parents and for teachers. So welcome Phyllis. Thanks for joining us.

Phyllis: 01:28 Thank you for having me.

Steve: 01:29 I’m wondering if you could start us off with some discussion about the impact that this past year has likely had on students.

Phyllis: 01:42 I don’t think there is anyone, teacher, parent, student, who hasn’t been deeply impacted by this past year. Everybody’s life just was turned inside out and upside down overnight and if anything, we have seen the incredible resilience that students exhibit, I think even given the uptick in mental health problems, anxiety, depression, perfectionism, phobias, excessive worrying, even given all of that or avoidance or school refusal, I still think that we have seen how remarkable kids are and how quickly they adapt and change to different circumstances, because it’s really hard to overstate just how much they’ve been through.

Steve: 02:26 So I’m wondering if you see similarities and differences when we’re thinking about the younger, early childhood kids, elementary, then the middle-schooler and then looking at teenagers, what’s likely to be similar across the board and other things that are different?

Phyllis: 02:48 Academically, I am seeing that the younger elementary students are having a harder time learning on Zoom, paying attention on Zoom without that feedback from the teachers. Older students are able to adapt to learning online much faster. In fact, some of them have even done better. They’re able to work at their own pace, they’re not having to navigate quite as many social interactions over the course of the day, which for some, can be overwhelming. On the other hand, for older students, there has been a real reluctance to turn on the video camera, which makes it harder for teachers to gauge understanding, to see when a student is confused, for kids to feel connected to their peers. I have a lot of middle schoolers who would like to be on camera, but because it’s an age when kids are so self-conscious, they’re not willing to turn theirs on if the other students don’t turn theirs on and that’s been a major issue in terms of helping students stay connected and engaged in the material.

Phyllis: 03:35 The middle-schoolers also are more likely to appear disengaged from learning and a lot of parents and even a few teachers have expressed concern that it might be hard to get them excited or enthused about the content again, but I don’t think it has much to do with the academic content. I think it has to do with the fact that kids don’t have a lot to anticipate or look forward to because of the amount of uncertainty we’re wrestling with. And if there is less to look forward to with anticipation, with positivity, they can sometimes come across as flat and that extends to school. And so I’ve been reminding teachers not to personalize when students seem less engaged, they’re less engaged universally and across the board.

Steve: 04:28 Yeah. The teacher’s interpretation of that then leads to how the teacher responds. So it’s kind of like a double whammy.

Phyllis: 04:41 Definitely. And middle schoolers to begin with, don’t always respond to teachers in a way that leaves teachers feeling a sense of warmth and connection. Middle school teachers are a unique breed because they really have to understand the developmental phase and understand that a child who is embarrassed might lash out or a child might be prone to misinterpreting an interaction as negative that actually is quite neutral. And so teachers have to be particularly conscientious with tweens to make sure that their body language, the words they choose, how long they pause before they answer, that all of that is in alignment or a middle-schooler is going to be very quick to go straight to the negative, particularly now, because everybody’s sensitivity is heightened. We have masks, we have social distancing, we have hybrid situations and cohorts, and nobody is at their peak.

Steve: 05:34 I had a chance to read an article that you had written and you you included in it, some suggestions for for teachers and I’ve pulled a couple of them. I’d like to just play them back to you kind of one at a time and have you respond to them with with a little detail. So one of the ones that really caught my attention and I’ve actually shared it with other folks since I’ve read it in your piece, you use the term to balance between predictability and novelty.

Phyllis: 06:13 Yes. So in the wake of a trauma, and there is no question, this past year constitutes a trauma, kids do crave consistency, predictability, routine. If every morning you have a joke of the day, or if you have a quote of the day, continue to do that. Kids need to know what to expect, especially because they’re marinating in so much change. But on the other hand, and this goes back to this idea that kids seem flat, or that they seem disengaged. They don’t have a lot to anticipate. They don’t have a lot to look forward to. And we want to be finding ways to infuse fun, some levity, some laughter into the classroom. The examples that I can offer from my own school because of the need to have smaller cohorts, we had to turn both our cafeteria and our gym into classrooms. And so the cafeteria has these two open air classrooms, open ceiling classrooms.

Phyllis: 07:10 And periodically the teachers will allow the students to write notes on paper airplanes and fly them over into the other cohorts classroom.

Steve: 07:18 [laughter]

Phyllis: 07:18 And in the gym, the classrooms each have a basketball hoop. How often do you have a classroom with a basketball hoop? And so sometimes they ball up the quiz they just took and they throw it in the basketball hoop, or they do a contest that ends with throwing a piece of paper into the basketball hoop or a ball into the basketball hoop. And these are just small ways to add some fun to the situation. One of our advisory teachers always asks a different student each day to bring in a joke and kids love to make adults laugh. In fact, one of the sixth graders shared with me the joke that she brought in the other day, it was “what do you call two octopus who look exactly the same octopuses who look exactly the same?” And I said, “what?” And she said, “itentacle”, which was just great. And we want to be giving them opportunities to just lighten the mood and for us to laugh too. I think teachers have been through so much and they too also really benefit from some fun and some novelty.

Steve: 08:18 Yeah. I just listened to an interview with some teenagers who were asked to make their suggestions as to ways that teachers could best cause their engagement. And there’s something about humor and and I guess the novelty fits in there that the kids interpret as the person being real. So even a joke that the kids see as ridiculous, there’s a sense that the teacher is making him or herself vulnerable and there’s a piece of realness there.

Phyllis: 09:05 I think that’s a hundred percent accurate. I spoke to an eighth grade teacher at a public school in the area where I live, near me in Silver Spring, Maryland and she told me that she tells her students that she has struggled in the past with mental illness. She tells them that she has a therapist. Her students even know that her therapist’s name is Manuela and she will share anecdotes from her conversations with Manuela. Now, every teacher isn’t going to be comfortable disclosing that level of personal information, but it’s authentic for this teacher to do so. And her goal is really to communicate to the kids, I’m fighting to get through every day just like you are and I’m a helper and I’m fighting for you. And the students as a result, are really quick to share what they’re going through.

Phyllis: 09:53 So she’s had a student tell her that they were struggling with insomnia. She’s had a student explain that the reason she comes to all of the classes and participates in all the lectures yet never complete an assignment is because she’s too anxious to get started. So she was able to help that student get some mental health support. She had another student who came in one day and said that his father had COVID. And it was a significant disclosure because his grandfather, and the class knew this, had recently died in El Salvador of COVID. So they understood why this would be such a huge issue for this student. And the class stopped everything to support this kid and to talk about it. And I think that is something that we want to make sure we’re doing as students return or as we’re on Zoom, because no-one’s going to learn if they are in a heightened state of anxiety, they have to feel that connection, that warmth that teachers like them before they’re going to engage in the learning.

Steve: 10:53 Yeah. A word that you used here caught my attention. It’s authenticity. So the students seeing their teacher as authentic, I guess, brings a more authentic response back from the student.

Phyllis: 11:08 Yes. I had a seventh grade student tell me that she was sick of adults, teachers and parents saying to her, “you’re going through a lot.” And I said, what would you like them to say? And she said, I want them to say we’re going through a lot and emphasize that we’re all in this together.

Steve: 11:26 Powerful. Powerful.

Phyllis: 11:26 That empathy piece is huge.

Steve: 11:28 Yeah. Thanks. Another another one of the suggestions that you made in the article was the need to tamp down pressure.

Phyllis: 11:38 Yes. And even in pre-pandemic times, I’ve often told parents who were anxious about their child’s achievement that nobody performs better because they think the stakes are high. And right now, I think our goal should be to ensure kids can demonstrate their learning, whatever form that takes. Some might want to make a diagram, some might want to do an oral presentation, some might want to write a book report, some might want to take a quiz. I don’t think we should get caught up in the details or be rigid. This is a time to offer grace and flexibility. Nobody knows their student’s full backstories, but as a counselor, I can tell you that pretty much everyone has something going on. And if we want to keep them engaged, if we want to keep them excited about learning and feel connected, we want to make sure they feel confident. And it’s kind of like that student who said that she wanted to participate, she wanted to be part of the class, she wanted to do well, but she was too anxious to get started on her assignments. We need to take a deep dive and figure out what’s going on with our students and give them an opportunity to feel that sense of accomplishment, to feel that they can master the material.

Steve: 12:48 And one last one, you talked about the importance of relationships. And I think you’ve labeled both relationship between teacher and students, but also student to student.

Phyllis: 13:02 Yes. I think it’s hard to overestimate how critical it is that students have someone that they trust, that they have a person in the school. I had a teacher at a school recently say to me, I did what you said. I asked the students who is the person that you would go to in times of crisis? And I even asked them the same followup question you told us to ask, which was, if you can’t come up with someone, please come talk about it with me. And a student couldn’t come up with someone and she did come and say to me, I couldn’t come up with somebody who I would go to in a crisis. So now what do I do? And I said, well, that student just told you that you are you’re her person. You are the person that she would go to in a crisis.

Phyllis: 13:51 And so self identify as a helper, let her know that if you can’t, you’ll find the right person to help her. But right now, I think we want to be making sure that no one’s falling through the cracks. A counselor may or may not be the one to spot that somebody is in emotional distress. There’s just such a high case load for counselors. I think the average across the country is more than 400 students per counselor. It could be that an art teacher sees that a student is drawing really dark self portraits. It could be that a child writes about depression in a poem in English class. It could be that a paraeducator sees a kid standing alone outside during recess. There are a lot of different ways that we can see that a kid is struggling. And as teachers, as counselors, as administrators, we all need to be communicating and talking to one another so that we can share that information and problem solve together. Maybe find a student a mentor if they need one.

Steve: 14:44 Yeah. Paying attention is what I’m really hearing there because it’s too easy to be overwhelmed with everything and miss clear signals that are there for us.

Phyllis: 14:56 Yes. And sometimes it’s really obvious. We just went back to full-time in person today. So before today it was K through
four was here in the morning. Five through eight was here in the afternoon daily. And as of this morning, our middle schoolers showed up too first thing in the morning. And most of them were super excited. I asked them if they had had to press snooze on their alarm, I had wondered if we would have a hard time getting up in the morning and most of them actually said, no, I couldn’t go to sleep at all. I was so excited. We get to eat lunch together. The cohorts are now allowed to mix outside. It feels more normal. And there was this joy actually that was permeating. And yet there was one student who came out of the car crying. And that was a very – it doesn’t get clearer than somebody crying, that they’re struggling. And it’s not hard to tell when somebody is really joyful, but there are a lot of different emotions in between crying and joyful and we want to give kids opportunities to express them and to problem solve with us so that we can help them get through the days, especially now as they’re returning and they’re going to be exhausted, it’s going to be a hard transition back.

Steve: 16:02 Well, Phyllis, thank you so much for for joining us today. I’m wondering what’s the easiest way that people might be able to connect with you with other questions that they might have?

Phyllis: 16:18 I’m very active on Twitter. My handle is at @pfagell and my email address is on my website, which is phyllisfagell.com.

Steve: 16:28 Okay. Well, we’ll be sure to put your your website in the, in the lead in to this podcast. So thanks again.

Steve [Outro]: 16:40 Thanks for listening in, folks. I’d love to hear what you’re pondering. You can find me on twitter @stevebarkley or send me
your questions and find my videos and blogs at barkleypd.com.

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTSteve [Intro]: 00:00 Hello and welcome to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast. Instructional coaches and leaders create the environment that supports teachers to continually imagine, grow and achieve. They model an excitement for learning that teachers in turn model for students. This podcast is dedicated to promoting the important aspects of instructional leadership. Thanks for listening.

Steve: 00:28 Coaching for efficacy, agency and hope. Joining our podcast today is Angela Buckingham, who is an instructional coach with Ed Service Center 13 in Texas. Angela wrote an article for their coach magazine, titled, “Cultivating Hope Through Reflection,” and when I read it, I was anxious for her to join us on the podcast and she agreed. So welcome, Angela.

Angela: 01:00 Thank you so much. I’m honored and humbled. Thanks for inviting me.

Steve: 01:05 Thank you. Would you give folks a little introduction to your background and then a little bit about the instructional coach program at at service center 13?

Angela: 01:17 Sure. I started teaching in 2002. I was actually alternatively certified and hired two days before school started. So I feel like I was kind of thrust in this world of teaching. I taught at a school that experienced high turnover in teachers and leadership. I used to have a colleague next to me who used to tell me that I was getting dog years experience so every one year of teaching experience, I was actually getting seven years.

Steve: 01:58 [laughter] I love it.

Angela: 01:58 I also had the privilege of having an instructional coach since my first year of teaching and that was extremely extremely helpful. She used to tell me never to make a decision on a bad day and I’ve taken that advice with me 20 years later. So I taught there for about five years and then I took a year leave of absence to finish my master’s at the university of Texas at Austin and I began working with students and teachers there.

Angela: 02:25 And I think that ignited my passion, really a mentor and coach. So after I finished my masters, I, you know, had such a strong connection to my school community. I felt love and loyalty and wanted to go back to the same school I taught at and continue teaching. But at the time, the instructional coach was actually leaving to get her doctorate and so we kind of switched places and I became an instructional coach there and coach for another five to seven years or so. And then about seven years ago, I came to Region 13 Education Service Center and we are a team of instructional coaches that serve about 60 school districts, plus charters, plus private schools. And so we go and coach everywhere. And so we also, you know, try to design and provide professional learning for coaches and networking. We kind of really are under the belief that coaches need coaches.

Steve: 03:39 Well, I have to share with the audience that it’s been my my privilege to work with your team at at Region 13 and the many coaches that you serve, so I’m excited that you that you’re here on the podcast with me. What prompted you to to write the piece that you wrote around the topic of hope?

Angela: 04:05 Well, you know, I had been talking with my teammates, Lana and Jackie around the e-magazine and what the themes should be, what kind of is the role of a coach at the end of the year. We were talking about coaches really reflecting with teachers and with each other at the end of the year. And then we just thought about what a hard year it’s been. And this time of year, you know, with Spring and renewal and growth, you know, planting seeds. And we thought we really want this issue to be around hope. It’s really the perfect time of year for coaches to not only reflect with teachers, but to really grow this hope for next year.

Steve: 04:57 As I read it, I reflected on a recent piece that I had read from Adam Grant who wrote an article for the New York times on languishing. And languishing was a new phrase for me. And his article described – used the term languishing to describe what people were dealing with with the impact of of of the pandemic. That if you thought of a continuum where at one end of the continuum, you had depressed and at the other end of the continuum, you had thriving and wellness, there’s this spot that he labeled as languishing. So he said, you don’t actually feel depressed, you’re getting the job done that you’re doing the work you need to do, but that excitement isn’t there. And when I read that, it clicked for me. I’ve described myself these during this past years as times where I’m living in Groundhog day.

Steve: 06:07 I get up in the morning, it’s the same day as the day before. I get the work done, but nothing seems to be seems to be moving ahead. And then, he suggested that the way to counter languishing was to enter a state of flow. And a person’s in flow when time kind of stands still because you’re totally consumed in what it is you’re doing, or time flies by. You know, it’s that piece you started searching on the computer and you suddenly realize it’s an hour and a half later, and you’ve been to all these sites., you’ve totally totally engaged in it. So, as I was reading the things you had written about hope, I was sensing a connection back to flow, and I’m wondering if what I just laid out there makes any sense to you.

Angela: 06:59 Yeah, definitely. I know when I watched that clip, a couple of things resonated for me. One, same as you – I was so appreciative he named it for me. There’s something about naming things where I was like, ‘oh, that’s what I’ve been feeling.” And then I think, you know, the second piece is yea, what do I do about this, right? And so I really like this idea of low because to me when we are focused on our strengths and our passions, we can get into flow. And so one thing he said was that you know, I feel like the emptiness of the languishing is caused by COVID. And I thought – and we’ve had this conversation, I thought it’s a little bit more complex than that. I think COVID created a lack of efficacy in us where we weren’t so confident anymore.

Angela: 08:02 Like we’ve never done this before, so how do you do this? And our confidence kind of took a dip. And because our confidence took a dip, our agency was also affected, like, do I have any ownership? Do I have any control? And so when we lost some agency, I think is when we fell into a little bit of the languishing. And so I think through the reflection of what worked, what are our strengths, is where we can get into that flow. So I feel like it’s all connected in a way. And I think that through coaching, is how we improve or increase that self-efficacy. So one of the sources of efficacy is mastery moments. So I try as a coach to really focus on where did we see mastery? Where were the successes? Because oftentimes when I start a conversation with teachers, they want to go straight to what didn’t work, what’s not working, what students are lacking. And so it really takes a concerted effort to refocus on strengths and what’s working in successes so that we can back our flow and agency I think.

Steve: 09:18 Yeah, I’m kind of finding myself continually going back and asking the question, what is it that I’m learning through this? And then if I have the chance to apply that learning, then that that moves me ahead. I was actually working today on designing a a workshop on how much personalization can you build into coaching. And I know that one of the things I learned during this past year is the power of personalization, which actually ended up being increased through a lot of the Zoom work that I was doing over traveling in and speaking to that larger audience. And so now, how do I find ways to use what I’ve learned as I move into whatever this next step of of the work we’re doing looks like?

Angela: 10:16 Right. And taking that time to hit, pause and reflect. I think back to the first virtual PD I offered, I think it was back in August 12th and I’m like, oh my gosh, it was a mess. And so now thinking about delivering my last one, I think that span of time and really going back and really picturing what that experience was like back in August to now, really will bring about that making growth concrete for us.

Steve: 10:49 In the article that you wrote, you connected the words, adversity, hope, and reflection and I’m wondering if you’d explore that a little bit for our listeners.

Angela: 10:59 Yeah. I mean, I’ve always heard, you know, the famous saying that adversity brings growth, struggle brings growth. And, you know, at the time I was writing the article – my daughter who’s eight actually was complaining one day that her legs were hurting and I was like, that’s strange, point to me where they’re hurting. And I told her, “oh, I think you’re just going through a growth spurt, those are growing pains.” And she asked me, “does that mean I’m getting taller?” And I said, “yes, it does.” And I thought, oh my gosh, like, there it is, right? When your body physically grows, it’s painful. And not just every day, but when our body goes through a growth spurt or a rapid period of growth. And I thought, oh, that is what we, as a school system here, we went through a growth spurt and it was painful, but yet, we’re figuratively taller because of it. I think a lot of things were visible because of it and what a good place to be in now that we’re kind of through the pain.

Steve: 12:14 I’m making another connection as I’m listening to you in that that growth spurt often makes kids awkward. And so it actually did the same thing. I’m thinking about my granddaughter, who’s a swimmer and she goes through the growth spurt, it throws her times off. She has to make all the readjustments from the growth spurt and to think of us as educators in effect, looking at the same piece.

Angela: 12:47 Yeah. And, you know, what’s funny is we know it’s painful, but we all want to grow, so we’re okay with the pain.

Steve: 12:55 I can put up with it if I bring myself back to that, huh? Talk a little bit more about how the reflection piece fits in.

Angela: 13:05 Well, I think definitely, that time that’s needed to really think about where we’ve been, where we are and where we want to grow and where we want to be is necessary. I hear from coaches, oh, I don’t want to take any teacher’s time with the reflection piece. And I remembered what you said in one of our lunch and learns is that we should never apologize. And so how important it is and I think every time I’ve asked a teacher or a team, can we just take some time to reflect? They’re always so grateful at the end of it, is that someone supported that reflection and pushed them a little bit deeper in thinking about their past present and future. And I worry if we’re so busy and we’re working at such a rapid pace, the learning really key comes through the reflection, not necessarily in just the doing. So I think it’s a really important piece for us to focus on as coaches.

Steve: 14:14 There was another piece from the article I was hoping you could talk a little bit about. You mentioned Snyder’s theory of of hope. I think it’s goals, pathways and agencies.
Angela: 14:27 Yes. I was pleasantly surprised when I began researching and came across Snyder’s hope theory because when I read his three components of goals, pathways, and agency, I was like, well, that’s coaching. Like, there it is right in front of my face. And then I thought, well, that’s what we do as coaches then. I never thought of myself as someone grows hope, but that’s essentially what we do as coaches. We set goals. And the piece I like about what he talks about with goals is he talks about visualization. And so I think about myself, one piece of learning I’ve had as a coach over the years is that my impact as a coach is only as great as the goal. Like, it’s only as impactful as the goal. And so, if I have a very big goal with a teacher, such as if a teacher says I want to improve student engagement and I leave it at that, it’s not going to be very impactful.

Angela: 15:35 But we have to visualize together what does that look like, sound like. That’s where the student learning production behaviors come in and really push for a specific visual for the goal. And then pathways, I love that he makes it plural. I love that he says there’s routes to the goal because I’ve definitely been in partnerships where we go down one route and we may hit a dead end and we have to kind of turn around and go back and choose a different route. And I think that’s okay and we have to be okay with that and not expect a perfect pathway for the goal. And then agency, I mean, I’ve always been interested in the agency just knowing my background with turnover. I think turnover has a lot to do with a lack of a sense of agency. And so we have to believe we have some ownership, we have some control to motivate us to achieve the goal. So yeah, those three pieces, that spells out coaching right there.

Steve: 16:49 I love the power of that because what it says to me is that, if as a coach I’m executing that with a teacher, I’m actually providing the model of what the teacher needs to be doing for his or her learners. You know, I’ve described that one of the powers of an outstanding teacher is that they can see a future where there is no data to support it. You know, it’s easy to look back on a past kid’s success and be able to paint this picture of the future, but really great teachers have the ability to build that picture for a kid, even though there aren’t these things in the past. It’s a belief in themselves and in the kid. And in coaching, it’s the same things, belief in the kids, belief in the teacher and and that that together we can we can make this happen.

Angela: 17:53 Yeah. And belief really determines our expectations. And so I’m really also interested in that piece, right? So we have to have this hope and this belief, because that determines what we expect to happen. And if we don’t have that, then we have really low expectations and so, I think that’s a difficult place to be.

Steve: 18:25 Angela, I really thank you for for sharing this with us. And wanna tell the listeners, I’ll be sure to put it in the lead in to this this podcast, the connection for that video clip on languishing that you can take a look at. And Angela, I’m wondering if you can tell people how they can find out about your your coach magazine because I think it would be a a piece that people would would value receiving.
Angela: 18:57 Sure. Thank you. So you can go to ESC13.net, and that is our Region 13 websites and our instructional coaching programs and services is listed there under district support and you can find links to our events, product services there. And you can also follow us at our @R13coaches on Twitter and hit the linktree in our bio and get a direct link to our magazine, our summer online learning with you Steve, and our instructional coaching conference and all the things there as well.

Steve: 19:34 Terrific. And if you okay, we’ll put your your email address into the lead and people can contact you directly?

Angela: 19:43 Yes, that would be great.

Steve: 19:45 Terrific. Well, thanks a lot.

Angela: 19:49 Thank you so much.

Steve: 19:51 Much appreciated. Have a great day.

Angela: 19:51 You too.

Steve [Outro]: 19:53 Thank you for listening. You can subscribe to Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud on iTunes and Podbean. And please remember to rate and review us on iTunes. I also want to hear what you’re pondering. You can find me on Twitter @stevebarkley, or send me your questions and find my videos and blogs at barkleypd.com.

Ad: 00:00 Take a deeper dive with Steve Barkley in one of his five books. Available in electronic and printed format, add Steve’s books to your district resources or to your personal collection at barkleypd.com/books.

Steve [Intro]: 00:14 Hello and welcome to the Steve Barkley, ponders out loud podcast. Instructional coaches and leaders create the environment that supports teachers to continually imagine grow and to cheat. They model an excitement for learning that teachers in turn model for students. This podcast is dedicated to promoting the important aspects of instructional leadership. Thanks for listening.

Steve: 00:38 Reframing – Leading from Love Rather Than Fear. This is the first of a three or four part podcast series that we’ll look at reframing – reframing the problem or reframing the mindset or both. Reframing allows one to look at a situation through a different lens, a different framework. A simple example of reframing is when a student approaches a teacher and makes the statement, “I can’t do this.” The teacher responds with, “not yet.” Getting the child to reframe that current lack of success to being permanent, to instead being temporary.

Steve: 01:42 In this podcast, I want to focus on a reframing from fear to love. What happens if we lead from love, if we teach from love rather than leading or teaching from fear? I was introduced to this topic of a reframe by Adam Fishman, a friend, and the founder of a Onora. Onora is an organization whose goal is “fixing the climate crisis and helping build a better future we all can smile at.” Here’s some of the statements I read in a blog that Adam had posted, and I’ll put the link to his blog in the lead-in to this podcast. As you listen to some of his words, consider if they raise a reflective thought for you back at looking at how we approach things in school. Adam wrote, “through a long process of emotional turmoil, reflection, education and wise counsel, we learned that we had to reframe the climate problem if we wanted to truly address the root cause of our ailments instead of just temporarily dealing with some presenting symptoms. In short, we had to look at the problem through a different angle and challenge our assumptions.” Adam said that they uncovered that they might be attacking the wrong problem and actually, perhaps, using the wrong language. “Fighting against” climate change and a “war” on greenhouse gasses might be part of the problem in making progress towards the desired outcome.

Steve: 03:47 He cited a feeling that often fighting this war made one feel like what they were doing was never good enough. When I read that example, I recalled being asked by Adam to be a field tester on a site that he was first building. And one of the things that was on the site was an opportunity for one to complete a survey to identify your your carbon footprint. And my footprint was horrific because of all the airline flights that I was taking across the ocean working in the US and living in Europe. Sure enough, by the end of the survey, I was about ready to give up on the fact that there’s anything I could do. Adam shares that in the midst of this frustration, a friend planted a seed that changed the way he’s going about his work. The friend simply asked the question, “what would happen if you lead from a place of love, rather than from a place of fear?” Bottom line that that creates in his work with the environment is instead of simply trying to live with as little harm as possible, we choose to live our lives to maximize the good, to leave things better than we found them.

Steve: 05:29 Adam’s blog caused me to ponder, as students are returning to summer programs and returning to school in the fall, is it possible that educators discussing learning loss are leading from fear rather than from love? How do our choices and decisions change if we shift from trying to minimize the harm of the pandemic to maximizing our students’ opportunities? Not looking at going back to normal, but ahead to creating things better than they had been. I listened to a podcast from the Wallace Foundation and I’ll put that link in the lead-in as well. The focus of the podcast was on partnerships between schools and communities working together to build the best possible supports for students. As I heard them discuss a desire and a set of actions for developing students’ skills and competencies academically, socially, emotionally, and cognitively – and I would add physically, I sensed that that would take a focus of love over fear. A focus on creating for learners, a true sense of personal agency.

Steve: 07:15 One of the panelists in the podcast shared that even our use of the words “out of school programs” and “afterschool programs” versus “school programs” suggest a division. And I think division is often driven by our focus on fear and that we blend the lines and we build much more collaboration when the focus is on love, on a desire for making things better. Here’s what students need to be finding as they return to school and enter an environment and practices that are truly supportive. Relationships have to be key. Relationships amongst students and with staff and with the community. Relationships that help build the building morning and safety for the student, they should be finding rich instructional content in the world around them and they should be challenged by that content. Now they need all the supports that go along with that.

Steve: 08:34 And in order to provide the supports, it means that we need to know students. We need to know them as individuals in order to be able to provide the maximum support. As I think about building a program around love, a favorite example comes to mind. I had the opportunity to watch my wife as a school administrator design and implement a change in the cafeteria program in her elementary school. She transformed the cafeteria from standing in line institutional style to family style service at a table. Students entered the cafeteria and found a seat at tables of six to eight. At the table where everything the students needed to set the table, serve lunch to each other, socialize and clean up. A great example of fear needing to be overcome by love was when teachers helping in the cafeteria had a tendency to want to step in and take control over serving and pouring to avoid accidents happening. That fear drove the wrong behaviors and a love for the opportunity for the kids to learn is what really needed to be created.

Steve: 10:24 As school leaders plan for their staff’s return, I think we need to look at the same critical elements that our students need to
find. Creating relationships among staff, between staff and administration, between staff and parents, staff, and students. Creating a feeling for staff that they belong and are safe, that they are challenged in their learning by the desire for educator learning to positively impact student learning. And all educators are going to need support in this process, which is going to require school leaders knowing staff in order to be able to respond to the individual needs in the support that we provide. As you bring your leadership teams together, as you think about the professional development and the coaching that you want to be providing teachers, when you think about the important programs that you’re implementing for students and parents, consider, where might we take an approach driven by love and a desire to make things better rather than by fear and a worry about avoiding or minimizing a negative impact. I’d love to hear your thoughts on actions that are frequently driven by fear rather than love and how that might change. Consider dropping me a note on barkleypd.com. Thanks for listening.

Steve [Outro]: 12:19 Thank you for listening. You can subscribe to Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud on iTunes and Podbean. And please remember to rate and review us on iTunes. I also want to hear what you’re pondering. You can find me on Twitter @stevebarkley, or send me your questions and find my videos and blogs at barkleypd.com.