Welcome to episode 101 of Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers. I'm your host

Angela Watson and I'm here to speak life, encouragement, and truth into the minds and

hearts of educators and get you energized for the week ahead.

Today I'm going to share some strategies that you can use to stop comparing your classroom to other teachers'

classrooms and to let go of that pressure to make your room look Pinterest worthy.

Visit Truth for Teachers.com to get the transcript, links to recommended resources,

and to share your thoughts on the show.

So I want to start off by making a confession.

This is the time of year when classroom setup photos are everywhere. And each photo we see has more clever

ideas and adorable decorations than the last. I find these images inspiring and creative and so much fun to look through, but they can also

be incredibly anxiety producing for me.

I don't even have a classroom and looking at room arrangements on Pinterest and

Instagram still makes me feel like I can't possibly measure up. There are three

types of thoughts that tend to run through my mind when I see a really awesome idea online on social media.

One thing that I think sometimes is, wow, I should have thought of that myself.

It's such a simple idea. It's so obvious. How could I have missed that?

I can't believe I spent all those years doing it a different way. Other photos inspire me to think, wow, I never would have thought of that myself.

I'll look at something and think, man, I never would have thought to do that.

That's so impressive.

It must have taken them forever. But wait, is this what parents and kids

expect nowadays? Are other teachers judging those who don't go all out like this?

Does it make you look lazy or like you don't care when your classroom like this

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