The central tenet of this discourse revolves around the empowering notion that educators can embody the storm, asserting their strength in the face of adversity. Teaching is inherently fraught with challenges, ranging from behavioral issues to personal stressors that may infiltrate the classroom environment. Rather than succumbing to these tumultuous forces, we are encouraged to embrace a mindset that emphasizes resilience and steadfastness. By adopting the "I am the storm" philosophy, we position ourselves as the stable and energizing force within our classrooms, capable of navigating the chaos with grace and purpose. This episode elucidates practical strategies for cultivating such resilience, underscoring the importance of self-regulation, community support, and positive affirmations as vital components in our journey to remain powerful and effective educators amidst the inevitable storms we encounter.

The discussion revolves around the metaphor of being the storm, encapsulating the essence of resilience in teaching. Mr. Funky Teacher delineates the various forms of storms that educators encounter, both externally and internally, and dispels the myth that effective teaching is devoid of turbulence. The podcast underscores that storms are an intrinsic aspect of the teaching profession; they are neither indicative of failure nor a reflection of one’s capabilities. Instead, the episode advocates for a proactive approach—empowering educators to embrace their roles as stabilizing forces. By practicing self-regulation, employing affirmational mantras, and fostering supportive communities, teachers can navigate through tumultuous times with grace. The overarching message is one of hope and strength, urging educators to embrace their identity as the storm and to lead with resilience, thereby positively impacting their students and the educational environment as a whole.

Takeaways:

• Teachers must recognize that storms, both internal and external, are an inevitable part of their profession.
• Embodying the mindset of 'I am the storm' empowers educators to maintain steady composure amidst chaos.
• Successful teaching involves not merely enduring storms but actively transforming them into opportunities for growth.
• Utilizing affirmational thinking and mantras can significantly bolster a teacher's resilience and effectiveness in the classroom.
• Collaboration and community support among educators is essential for navigating the challenges inherent in teaching.
• Teaching students about resilience involves demonstrating how to confront and navigate through difficulties, thus modeling strength.

Links referenced in this episode:

• beafunkteacher.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Be a Funky Teacher

Yeah, he's Mr. Funky.

He's Mr. Funky Teacher.

Mr. Funky Teacher inspires greatness, makes you feel good.

Like your favorite playlist.

Keeping that fresh and funky.

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He got some funky cool ideas to share for all you teachers.

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You hear it when he speaks.

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If you're seeking the best bunkiest, he is it.

He will empower you to improve.

He'll be helping others and loving it too.

He's Mr. Funky Teacher.

Yeah, he's Mr. Funky Teacher.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

This is Mr. Funky Teacher with Be a Funky Teacher dot com.

I'm coming to you with another Be a Funky Teacher podcast.

Welcome back.

Today, what we are going to be focusing on today is to be the storm finding strength.

When teaching gets tough, that's what we're going to be focusing on.

But before we get into it, we have three things that I want to share that I'm thankful for.

First thing I'm thankful for is administrator support.

Knowing that leaders have your back makes the storms easier to weather.

Oh, boy, do they ever.

Next thing, copy machines that work.

Sometimes it's the small victories, right?

You know this, I know this.

When you get a copy machine that's working or not, not jamming up or running out of toner or running out of staples without a, without a jam air on it, right?

That's, that's a win when you get a copy machine doing that, especially when you're under pressure to get some copies done.

And the third thing that, that I'm thankful for is having an opportunity to get caught up on some copies.

I, I actually one of the things I like to do is it always seems like I make a lot of copies, but I like to make copies for the entire year based on like, resources I'm using for core curriculum resources if there's something that I know I'm using.

And so I try to make those copies for the year so they're, I don't have to think about them or have to worry about trying to run around and make these.

So it always seems like, hey, he's making a lot of copies.

Well, no, not when you think about like the whole year I'm, I'm pacing out.

But when the cop.

So having an opportunity to, to get caught up in copies is wonderful.

And then once again to go back to when the copy machine is working even better.

So, all right, so the main event, the main topic that we are going to talk about is be the storm finding strength when teaching gets tough.

Now, teaching has always been having.

It's always been where there's storms in teaching, right?

There's behavior issues, there's unexpected changes, there's personal stress that bleeds into the classroom sometimes.

And there's a myth that strong teachers prevent storms.

All right, like, don't you think that that's kind of a myth, that's an education where it's like, oh, if you're an effective teacher, you're not going to let any storms happen in your classroom.

And really, the truth here is that strong teachers stay steady in the storms.

Every.

Every storm, y', all, is temporary, but how you respond leaves that permanent impression in the mind of those around you.

Sometimes a storm is external.

It could be a school policy.

It could be something related to testing with state testing or administration changes.

Sometimes the storm is internal.

Maybe some of our own stress that we're coming into the classroom with, or maybe there's doubts in our mind.

Sometimes.

Yeah, sometimes there's exhaustion.

We're just coming to the classroom exhausted because we're exhausted from the day before, maybe dealing with certain behaviors or certain student needs, and we're coming into the classroom next day outright exhausted, right?

So that's where there could be some internal storms going on.

We do have to recognize that there's storms.

Storms are normal.

We have to recognize that storms is normal.

And it helps to keep us from feeling like we're failing when they come.

And I am my own worst critic when I encounter a storm.

I'm very hard on myself sometimes, and I have to try to reframe that in my head, saying, hey, you know what?

This is a.

Teaching has storms.

Teaching has internal storms.

Teaching has external storms.

That's the name of the game, Joe.

It is.

It's.

It's that.

That's just.

It comes with storms, right?

And.

And to not.

Not be too hard on it.

I mean, we can try to avoid some storms, but we.

We have to recognize that there's going to be some storms that, that.

That come our way that we have to face.

And it doesn't mean we're a bad educator if we have storms that we have to.

To confront.

And what.

So what I want to actually challenge you with this next idea is the I am the storm mindset.

Just think about that for a minute.

I am the storm means you're not tossed around by chaos.

You are the calm force inside you.

I've been kind of playing with that idea kind of lately here about I am the storm.

It's about identity that you are strong enough, steady enough, resilient enough to weather whatever comes your way.

When teachers embody this mindset, they are setting themselves up for much more success.

I believe when teachers embody the mindset of being the storm, they can stay calm when the class spirals, they can hold boundaries without being harsh.

Y and.

And they can keep showing up day after day with consistency.

See, the storm isn't about destruction.

It's about movement and energy.

So being the storm is about movement and energy.

And you set the energy in the room.

Y' all don't forget that as the funky teacher.

Being a funky teacher means you are the storm.

You are the energy.

You are the motion in the classroom.

You are the force in the room that, that can.

That can reframe hardships as power.

You don't just endure storms.

You become the force that drives.

That drives through the storms.

And you can be that.

You can borrow stability from your mindset.

Your presence can teach students about resilience more than any possible lesson that you could possibly imagine.

Just imagine that the storm mindset gives you a platform to teach students about resilience, about the mindset of being strong, being stable, because they can take that into their own life.

Just imagine teaching students about the storm mindset.

I am the storm.

But you got to remember, we have to remember that it's not about destruction.

Being the storm is not about destruction.

It's.

It's about a steadiness.

It's about firm.

It's a strong, positive, powerful energy about us.

It's a.

It's a stability.

So how.

So let's think about this now.

How.

How to be the storm in practice?

Well, we have to set regulation.

We have to.

We have to do some.

We have to regulate, right?

Like we have to sometimes.

We have to pause.

We have to sometimes breathe and respond instead of reacting.

I mean, if we're reactive teachers, I think we're unstable teachers.

If we're just reactive all the time.

I mean, I'm not criticizing if we have to be reactive sometimes, but I think it's really important for us as being stable, strong, funky teachers.

We have to be the storm.

And being the storm is having that self regulation in the classroom.

Pause, breathe, and respond in a way that is steady instead of just being impulsive and reactive.

Or it almost looks like we're out of control because we have to have control.

Yo.

We have to also have mantras, right?

Anchor Phrases, and I love anchor phrases, things that associate me with things that I can say in the classroom or things that I can.

Things that I can say to myself like, I am steady, I am the storm.

Affirmational thinking, Affirmational talking is so powerful.

And so how, how can you be the storm in practice having that affirmational thinking, I think of.

I think it's like Saturday Night Live did the thing where, like, Stuart Little, I am good enough, I'm well enough, and God darn it, people love me.

And people joke about that, that Saturday Night Live skit where they kind of make fun of it, but yet there's so much power to that, that affirmational thinking.

And so having those mantras, those anchor phrases that we can go back to, can set ourselves up to weather any storm.

Having community lean on colleagues, administration, administration, or even leaning at them for, for small wins, sharing with.

With once again, those colleagues, those administrators, sharing small wins, sharing successes, and even thinking about leaning in on the wins themselves as supports.

Like, you're working like, like my working copier yesterday, I'm leaning in.

And that, you know, that's.

That's a win, right?

Leaning in on those as, hey, you know, there's good things happening.

And celebrating that kind of, in a community type of mindset can be powerful.

Perspective taking.

I want to talk about perspective taking for a minute because my, my mom, when she was alive, she was always big on reframing things and having perspective.

And just know that bad storms, like bad destructive storms pass.

Don't let temper chaos define your worth.

Funky teacher.

Don't let it think about having, like, micro recoveries.

You know, take a sip of water, take, take a lap around the hallway or a minute of silence before the next class or before going and picking students up from the lunchroom or from recess or whatever that looks like Practice visualizing, y', all how to be this dormant.

Practice visualizing strength.

Picturing yourself as a tree in the wind.

Firm roots, flexible branches, holding strong that you might get whipped around, but you're not going to break.

You are the strongest of strong trees, and you can weather any storm as a teacher.

And so visualize this strength.

There are elite athletes who, Whose coaches have them visualize strength, visualize them performing whatever, whatever movement or skill that they need to do for their sport.

And they do a lot of visualizing.

Well, I say visualize strength.

Visualize what it looks like holding strong when destructive chaos is all around.

And y', all, another thing that I've leaned into the last I'd.

I'd say seven years more than anything else, too, is celebrating resilience.

Notice when you stayed calm in destructive storms.

Call it out, name it, own it, and grow from it.

Celebrate that resilience and then teach it forward.

I want to encourage you to talk openly with students about handling challenges, dealing with hardship, facing adversity, overcoming obstacles.

Teach it forward.

With our students as funky teachers, y', all, they can learn from how we model navigating our way through storms, and we want them to learn from it.

So what are some takeaways now on this?

I'm going to take a moment now to reflect and give some key takeaways.

Here is the storms will always come.

I don't care what building you're in.

I don't care what school district you're in, what school, what classroom you're in.

Storms will always come.

Don't fear them.

Don't just survive them.

Be the storm.

Be the calm, the steady, the powerful presence your students need.

When kids remember you years later, it will be worth it for how perfect your.

For how, how strong you were in those storms.

It's.

It.

Students aren't going to remember how perfect your lessons were.

They're not.

You're going to have the most perfect lessons, and they're not going to remember you for your perfect lessons.

You know what they're going to remember?

They're going to remember you for how you stood strong when life got messy.

Be the storm.

And remember to inspire greatness in young people.

And don't forget to be a funky teacher.

Bye now.

He's Mr. Funky Teacher, yeah he's Mr. Funky Teacher yeah, yeah, yeah.