89. Beat Burnout with Micro-Learning: Podcasts as a Catalyst for Reigniting Passion for Teaching

Jan 16, 2024

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One of the reasons we experience burnout is because we're just bored. I know I've been that teacher, where things just aren't as exciting as they used to be. However, one of the things that can help reignite our passion is by taking time to learn and grow. But how do you do that when we hardly have time to take a potty break?

Insert reflection and micro-learning. Developing personally and professionally has actually been proven to help combat burnout and keep us passionate about our work. In this episode, we explore the concept of micro learning and its powerful role in reigniting the spark and passion in teaching. We'll delve into a handful of exceptional teacher podcasts that offer valuable insights, fresh strategies, and inspiring stories to uplift and energize educators. Join us as we uncover the hidden gems of micro learning and discover how it can transform your teaching experience.

TOPICS COVERED:

Reigniting passion for teaching through micro learning
Importance of personal growth and well-being for teachers
The power of reflection in combating burnout
Leveraging micro learning opportunities for professional & personal development
Top 5 Teacher Podcasts to find inspiration, support, and strategies
Student engagement
Balanced roles as a teacher and a parent
Literacy strategies, and overcoming burnout
How to Create a community of learning with podcasts
Using Virtual mentorship through podcast interviews with experienced educators
Actionable strategies and tips for improving teaching practices from podcasts

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

Teacher Approved Podcast
- Podcast: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast-home/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2ndstorywindow/
- Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SecondStoryWindowTeachers
- Grab the FREE Hallway Procedures Guide: https://secondstorywindow.lpages.co/hallway-procedures-opt-in/
Literacy Dive Podcast
- Podcast: https://theliteracydive.com/category/podcast/
- Grab 6 FREE Creative Writing Activitiess: theliteracydive.com/sampler
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theliteracydive/
The Literacy Lounge
- Website: https://cieraharristeaching.com/podcast/
Wife Teacher Mommy The Podcast
- Website: https://www.wifeteachermommy.com/podcast/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wifeteachermommy/
- Get on the Newsletter: https://www.wifeteachermommy.com/op/newsletter-opt-in-page/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wifeteachermommybykelsey/

RELATED RESOURCES:

CONNECT WITH BRITTANY:

RELATED EPISODES:

MORE ABOUT THE RESILIENT TEACHER PODCAST:

The Resilient Teacher Podcast is the show that will give overwhelmed educators the support, tools, and mindset to reduce teacher burnout and keep teaching sustainable. Each week, Brittany Blackwell, M.Ed. & her guests will share inspiration and actionable steps to avoid or recover from the dreaded teacher burnout. You'll be inspired to individualize self-care and learn to prioritize your well-being and mental health, all while making a bigger impact on your classrooms and community.

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TRANSCRIPT:

[0:00]

Have you ever felt like you're just going through the motions in the classroom, like that spark that once ignited your passion for teaching is just flickering in the wind?

I certainly have. So let me just drop you a line and let you know you're not alone.

It is a feeling that many educators face at some point in their journey.

But here's the good news.

There's a world of inspiration just waiting to be tapped into.

And it's right at your fingertips, or should I say your earbuds. buds.

In today's episode, we are diving into one of my favorite treasure troves for reigniting that teaching fire, micro learning.

We're not just talking about any micro learning. We are focusing on those hidden gems that resonate with your unique values, offer fresh teaching techniques, and bring stories that remind you why you actually stepped into the classroom in the first place.

From the stories of educators who've walked in your shoes and emerged stronger to the latest of strategies that can actually shake up your daily routine. We are covering it all.

And let's not forget the importance of personal growth and well-being.

Those are essential ingredients to keep that teaching flame burning bright.

So if you've been searching for that little nudge, that spark to relight your educational enthusiasm, this episode is for you.

Stay tuned because at the end of our time together, I'm also sharing my top five podcast picks that are sure to inspire, challenge, and energize you. So let's jump right in.

[1:25]

Steve Miraboli once said, the most powerful relationship that you will ever have is the relationship with yourself.

I love this quote because it really gets to the heart of the importance of reflection.

And it makes me think about the power that reflection has on our ability to learn, to grow, and to manage that burnout that we can experience as teachers.

In my opinion, we as teachers remaining lifelong learners, no matter how long we've been teaching, is one of the antidotes to burnout.

It's not just about staying updated with the latest educational trends or classroom management techniques, but it's also about growing as individuals.

This growth is really twofold. It's professional because we can refine our teaching methods, our strategies, but it's also inherently personal because we can explore our own interests, our strengths, our areas for improvement.

While I think learning and growing is such a powerful antidote because it allows us to to keep things fresh and fun and hearing different perspectives.

[2:24]

The truth is, we can't really do that if we don't have a relationship with ourself.

We have to be able to dive deep into ourselves.

And the same goes for if our administrator is sitting us in these PDs without considering our preferences or our desire to learn the content.

It's pretty pointless, right?

If we aren't self-aware enough to think what is truly burning us out, which we talked about the root cause in episode 76, so go back to that if you need some help, then how can we possibly take those steps towards learning and growing?

Like, think about it. If you don't do a pre-assessment with your students, you're kind of just teaching something and hoping that they need to know the content, right?

We are our best advocate and our best action to take towards burnout recovery because once we become self-aware, we can actively seek out those supports and those learning experiences that we need to grow and to learn.

This is one of the benefits to our time period. We can get these little micro learning processes.

[3:30]

Pieces right at our fingertips, right into our earbuds at any time.

Back in the day, and I'm going to age myself a little bit here, we had to either search for a book in the library to learn something new.

We had to ask somebody knowledgeable or ask a friend and hope that they were right or wait for 15 minutes while our dial-up internet connected to head over to AOL and askjeeves.com.

We no longer have to sit for a 90-minute presentation to get some real value. you.

We have so many different micro learning opportunities all around us, bite-sized learning opportunities that we can grab in the nooks and crannies of our busy, busy days to make small changes over time, give us that autonomy that can often be lacking during burnout, that empower us to take action towards living the life that we actually want.

I think of micro learning as things Things like TikToks, Reels, YouTubes, little bite-sized things like that, and especially podcasts.

In an article in Forbes magazine called The Power of Podcast and Learning and Development, this quote really stuck out to me.

[4:40]

Podcasts offer a unique and personal way to grow, to learn, and connect.

They bring a world of knowledge and inspiration right into our ears, making learning both accessible and engaging. And if I'm honest with you guys, I listen to all kinds of personal and professional development podcasts.

I find it so easy to pop in an earbud while I'm sitting in the car pickup line or dropping the kids off at school, driving in my car, or just doing dishes or laundry.

It's so easy to do. And because I'm always searching for a new friend to listen to, I often look for those podcasts that will make me reflect, make me think about my own experiences and give me new ideas that I can try in life and in the classroom.

And there are so many ways that we can learn from our community and our schools to really reignite our passion with these micro learning experiences.

[5:33]

Teachers can form a podcast club, much like a book club, where they listen to an episode independently and then they can meet to discuss the ideas presented.

Janiya from Tampa, Florida, actually shared this with me in an idea that she started doing with her induction class that she hosts for her district.

They actually use some of the podcast episodes from this podcast to do that, which I think is a really cool idea.

This can really foster a community of learning and provide a support network for implementing many new strategies.

Instead of spending hours and hours, you know, watching videos or reading books, you can actually just pop in an earbud and listen on the way to school.

Some podcasts also feature interviews with experienced educators.

We do that here on this podcast and thought leaders in education.

I like to think of this as like virtual mentorship.

You can gain some insights and some advice from those seasoned professionals that you might not have access to otherwise. You might not even know they exist.

[6:32]

The power of podcasts and other micro learning experiences and reigniting your passion for teaching is absolutely incredible.

It's about taking these little nuggets of wisdom and seeing how they can light up our own teaching practice.

And so what I thought would be super helpful is in going into five teacher podcasts that you need need to be listening to in 2024 here in this episode to give you a little bit of that behind the scenes into some that might actually give you a little bit of a spark.

And what I want to do is kind of share with you a trailer to each of these podcasts and then, of course, share some episodes that I think are super helpful for you depending on your burnout.

Any of the podcasts and the episodes that I will share will be in the show notes at teachingmindbodyandsoul.com slash episode 89.

I'll also add a couple of extras in there for you as well.

The first podcast that I want to share with you is called the Teacher Approved Podcast.

[7:34]

So if you feel like there's just not enough time to be the kind of teacher that you know you could be, co-hosts Heidi and Emily of The Second Story Window are there to help you kind of elevate what matters and simplify the rest.

You guys know I'm all about simplification.

And so if that's you too, you will love the Teacher Approved Podcast.

For those of you who are burned out due to behavior and apathy from your students, which I've heard a lot of you kind of share with me, I highly recommend checking out their episode 35. five.

It's called Five Ways to Increase Student Engagement, The Secret Weapon for Teachers, where they give this really cool analogy of student engagement kind of being a scale.

And the teacher's role is really to maintain the balance between structure on one side and novelty on the other.

In that episode, they share five ways to apply surprise in your classroom to keep that engagement scale balanced.

Another good one for student engagement is episode 99, Get Students engaged with three types of active participation strategies. Love those two episodes.

Second on the list of the five podcasts that you should be listening to in 2024 is my friend who you might recognize from being on the podcast many times before, Kelsey Sorensen and the Wife Teacher Mommy podcast.

[8:57]

Now, if you haven't listened to any of the podcasts that Kelsey and I have done together before, I think there's three on the podcast, we are very kindred spirits.

We share a passion for really wanting to support teachers with burnout.

She has been a part of the Summer Self-Care Conference, and I have worked with her on her Educate and Rejuvenate events that she does for Wife Teacher Mommy.

But I love that she incorporates her life coaching into her podcast episodes.

She is a certified life coach, and if you are a parent and a teacher who is struggling to manage being around kids all day, you need to listen to episode 104 of the podcast.

It's titled Being Around Kids All the Time. Okay, I'm just saying, I had to listen to it.

I really, really enjoyed it. This episode is your go-to for getting a little bit of validation in managing the roles of being a teacher and a parent.

And this episode can really help you kind of reframe your mindset and give you some strategies for managing that as well. Highly recommend.

Third on the list is the Literacy Dive with Megan Polk.

[10:04]

I would be surprised if a few of you actually don't use Megan's resources from TPT in your classroom because I have. and once I realized she had a podcast, I was like, OMG.

So if you're a teacher who is struggling to teach writing with your students because they say it's boring, you've got to check out episode 144, Boost Daily Reading and Writing Excitement with this spontaneous routine.

I love her fun ideas for getting kids actually looking forward to reading and writing each day.

Writing has always been something that my students struggled with, and I love her short episodes for learning some some actionable step-by-step examples and strategies to help close that gap.

Next up, if you are an elementary teacher looking to hone in on some reading strategies, you will fall in love with the Literacy Lounge from host Sierra Harris.

[10:56]

Sierra is an amazing resource for transformative teaching strategies from the science of reading to student engagement, all packed with actionable tips that you can start to implement in your your classroom.

So whether you are a seasoned educator or you're just starting your teaching journey, this podcast is a fantastic resource.

I really liked her very first episode. It's called Reading Consumption vs.

Reading Comprehension because I was that student who was not comprehending, but I could just like decode any words you put in front of me.

This episode was awesome to really help me be able to learn how to spot the difference between consumption and comprehension and some some strategies to finally foster that student's ability to make meaning and encourage that critical thinking and reading.

She also has an episode about adding mentor text to your literacy block, and it's really insightful.

So I definitely recommend checking that one out as well.

[11:50]

And five, it wouldn't be the top five that I would recommend you listen to in 2024 without including this podcast, the Resilient Teacher Podcast, because I'm always here to help you guys beat the burnout cycle once and for all.

And I have some really amazing things coming up in 2024 here on the podcast.

And just in general, we've got free challenges and new series, free conferences to share, new goodies to help you save time and energy so you can actually start living your best life inside and outside of the classroom.

And so I highly recommend you check out these podcasts, get some micro learning and reignite that passion by heading over to the link in the show notes and subscribing so that you can get notified when new episodes go live.

I love to be able to look at podcast episode titles and say, hey, that looks like something that that might interest me or Or something that really, hey, I never thought about that, but maybe I could really use this technique, something like that.

And I hope that you will be inspired to learn and to grow by following these different podcasts.

You can also check out five more podcasts that I recommend that I didn't chat about here as well on the show notes so that you can get all that good inspiration and finally reignite your passion for teaching this year.

Don't forget, you are a resilient teacher. We're in this together. You got this.

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