EP215 When no one's showing YOU grace, make space instead

Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers

Angela Watson

Education, Courses

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2021

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Extending grace shouldn't be a one way street. And yet, many educators feel like they are constantly told to accommodate students and families while they themselves are held to rigid, unrealistic standards.

When you start to feel the resentment and frustration building, here are 3 shifts that can help:

Instead of giving grace, think of giving people space to be themselves. Rather than trying to fit people into narrow boxes, expand the space you offer so folks are free to be inconsistent in how they think, feel, and behave. It's natural to have good days and bad ones, low moods and high moods. Allowing students and families space to move back and forth between these states of being can ease your stress and resentment.
Stop making your work look effortless, and invite folks into the process. Teachers in general — and women especially — are conditioned to make everything we do look easy and natural. But this often backfires because it causes people to expect even more of us. Let families and students peek behind the scenes so they can see not only your hard work, but also your humanity.
Say "thank you" instead of apologizing. Set a class culture of thanking one other for bearing with each other's faults, and giving each other space to be your full selves. Apologies are necessary when someone's been hurtful or offensive, but making minor mistakes is part of being human, and not necessarily something to feel sorry for. Gratitude is a more positive, uplifting emotion that people feel good about participating in, so substitute thankfulness for apologies whenever possible.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to episode 215 of Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers. I'm your host Angela Watson
0:08.0	and I'm here to speak life, encouragement and truth into the minds and hearts of educators
0:13.9	and get you energized for the week ahead. Today I'm going to share some thoughts about
0:18.1	what to do when you are expected to show grace to students and families, but you feel
0:23.0	like no one is extending that same grace back to you. Visit truthforteachers.com to get
0:28.7	the transcript or find our Truth for Teachers podcast community on Facebook.
0:34.8	I'm swapping out the typical mention from our podcast sponsors this week to share about
0:38.9	some books of my own that you might not realize I've written. My most recent one is entitled
0:43.6	Fewer Things Better, The Courage to Focus on What Matters Most. I've also published
0:49.8	Unshakable. 20 ways to enjoy teaching every day, no matter what. And awakened. Change
0:56.3	your mindset to transform your teaching. I recommend Fewer Things Better for folks
1:01.4	who want to get clarity and simplify. It's designed to help you figure out not only how
1:06.2	to use your time with students, but how to use your life to make an impact in ways that
1:10.8	really matter. There's an audiobook version of Fewer Things Better as well, and I'm the
1:15.0	narrator, so you basically get like an eight-hour uninterrupted podcast from me. That's Fewer
1:21.0	Things Better. Unshakable is a collection of inspiring mindset shifts and practical teacher-tested
1:27.4	ideas for getting more satisfaction from your job. It's an approach that helps you incorporate
1:32.9	a love of life into your teaching and a love of teaching into your life. And finally,
1:39.0	awakened is a deep dive into cognitive behavioral techniques and other mindset tools to help
1:44.3	you change the way you think about teaching so that it feels less stressful. Awakened
1:49.6	will help you develop the resilient, flexible, positive mindset you need in order to feel
1:54.8	peaceful and energized no matter what's happening around you. To learn about any of these
	...

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