315 episodes

Truth for Teachers is designed to speak life, encouragement, and truth into the minds and hearts of educators and get you energized for the week ahead.

Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers Angela Watson

    • Education
    • 5.0 • 4 Ratings

Truth for Teachers is designed to speak life, encouragement, and truth into the minds and hearts of educators and get you energized for the week ahead.

    EP297 Feedback first: How 2 different teachers help students focus on learning, not grades

    EP297 Feedback first: How 2 different teachers help students focus on learning, not grades

    Teachers spend so much time giving feedback to students, but often kids don’t internalize it. They tune out the carefully-crafted written comments on their work, briefly register the grade they earned, and move on.
    So how can we help students care about improving their skills and take time to reflect deeply on their learning?
    In this episode, you’ll hear how two different teachers have reimagined their instruction to make that possible.
    It’s a sneak peek at two sessions from the upcoming 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Online Summit, a FREE event that is focused entirely on saving teachers time, and helping you do your job more effectively and efficiently.
    First up, you’ll hear from Andrea Clark. She’s presenting for the elementary Summit in a session called, “Feedback first: Shifting from traditional grading to reflection sessions.” As you’ll hear from Andrea’s description of her fifth graders’ reflection sessions, this is one of the most worthwhile ways she spends her time as a teacher because her students learn so much from it.
    Then, you’ll hear from Tanya Jo Woodward. She’s presenting for the secondary Summit in a session called, “7 time savers for IB and AP teachers.” She talks first about how she grades and gives feedback in her high school English classroom while students are working independently on a task or assessment. She also offers tips for helping students self-correct by providing editing stations or peer editing guided sheets.
    Like so much of the Summit content, I think you’ll find value in hearing both of these teachers’ experiences, regardless of which grades or content areas you might teach.
    Listen in now to hear Andrea and Tanya Jo share the exact processes they’ve used to transform the way their students think about feedback vs. grades.
    Then, save your spot for the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Online Summit.
    All sessions are just 15-20 minutes long with no filler, fluff, icebreakers, or pitches. And, all the sessions are presented by current K-12 teachers, with bonus keynotes from me (Angela Watson).
    Sign up for the free live Elementary Summit April 5th-6th
    Sign up for the free live Secondary Summit April 12th-13th
    If you can’t attend live or the event has already passed by the time you see this, you can purchase forever-access to all the sessions (both elementary and secondary), plus get time-stamped transcripts, note-taking guides, and all the presentation links and templates in one document so that you can reference them easily. Forever-access is just $19, and helps cover the cost of running this event and compensating the teachers who share their ideas.
    Thank you for your support, and for spreading the word about this event!

    • 26 min
    EP296 Thinking creatively about tough problems: the power of diffuse thinking for you and your students

    EP296 Thinking creatively about tough problems: the power of diffuse thinking for you and your students

    Have you ever noticed how breakthroughs often come when you're not actively trying to find a solution? That's diffuse thinking at work: a relaxed state in which creativity flourishes.
    On today’s episode of Truth for Teachers, I’ll share how stepping back can lead us forward. It turns out that intense concentration isn't always the best approach to problem solving, and we can instead let our minds wander through the meandering paths of diffuse thinking.
    Focused thinking is a bit like a flashlight—intense & concentrated. Diffuse thinking is like ambient room lighting—gentle & expansive. When you (or students) can’t concentrate, you can harness the power of diffuse thinking. This shift in mindset from focused to diffuse can spark innovation and creativity.
    Listen in to discover how to use diffuse thinking when you've pushed your limits in focused thinking, and harness the power of diffuse thinking overnight during sleep. (Your dreams can be a powerful tool for problem-solving, too!)
    You’ll also hear how you can teach your students to tap into the power of diffuse thinking. I’ll share how to incorporate "thinking walks" into your instruction, try skygazing with students as a productive mental break, prime students for their next lesson with a question that requires diffuse thinking.
    Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion.
     ——
    If you teach at the secondary level, check out my 10 lesson unit on Focused Attention. It includes a lesson on harnessing the power of diffuse thinking which takes just 15-20 minutes to implement. The resource has slides you show to your class which explain everything for you and guides you through the activities, including a student journal page that helps kids reflect on the topic. In this unit, students will also learn that it’s okay to struggle with focusing their attention, and learn how to:
    Take productive breaks from concentration Create healthy phone habits and manage distractions Use movement to do better focused work Build concentration stamina Tolerate and push through boredom and procrastination Download the PDF brochure about Finding Flow Solutions to share with your administrators and get school funding for the curriculum.
     

    • 22 min
    EP295 Can banning phones in school help solve the youth mental health crisis? (with Dr. Jean Twenge)

    EP295 Can banning phones in school help solve the youth mental health crisis? (with Dr. Jean Twenge)

    There has been a significant increase in mental health issues among young people in America since 2012, including anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide attempts, and suicide. Contrary to popular belief, these trends started before the pandemic, with rates of major depression among teens doubling between 2011 and 2019. Girls and young women are more likely to experience these issues, and the gender gap has been widening.
    The introduction of smartphones and social media around 2012 is believed to be a major factor in the decline of mental wellbeing, as it has led to less face-to-face interaction, increased sleep deprivation, and constant exposure to social media.
    Dr. Jean Twenge has conducted extensive research in this area. She’s a renowned psychologist and scholar who specializes in generational differences and technology based on a dataset of 39 million people, and has published more than 180 articles and books.
    In our conversation, Jean emphasizes the need for conversations about healthy phone and screen habits, as well as the importance of setting clear rules and boundaries for phone use.
    We talk extensively about getting student and parent buy-in around Jean’s recommendation that cell phones be banned in school from bell-to-bell, including during lunch time and breaks. Jean asserts that the research supports this policy, and emphasizes that it should be school-wide and not left to individual teachers to enforce. 
    Despite the challenges, we discuss our hopes for Gen Z and what makes Jean optimistic about the future. She encourages educators to take the mental health crisis seriously and understand that it is not just our perception or feeling that something is wrong.
    Her challenge is for educators to help students understand the love-hate relationship they have with their phones, and provide structure and clear rules to help them navigate technology in a healthy way.
    Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion.

    • 29 min
    EP294 What does it mean to “teach like yourself’ in 2024? (with Dr. Gravity Goldberg)

    EP294 What does it mean to “teach like yourself’ in 2024? (with Dr. Gravity Goldberg)

    “Making a conscious and intentional effort to tap into your own personal power and being courageous” is the way today’s guest defines “teaching like yourself.”
    I’m talking with Dr. Gravity Goldberg, whom you might remember from a 2019 interview I did, which ended up being one of the most downloaded Truth for Teachers episodes ever. It’s Episode 171, called “Teach like yourself: Why YOU are the person your students need most.”
    Gravity has over 20 years of teaching experience, including positions as a science teacher, reading specialist, third grade teacher, special educator, literacy coach, staff developer, assistant professor, educational consultant, and yoga teacher. Gravity holds a B.A. and M.Ed. from Boston College and a doctorate from Teachers College. As the founding director of Gravity Goldberg, LLC she leads a team that offers side-by-side coaching and workshops that focus on teachers as decision-makers and student-led instruction. 
    Since our last conversation, Gravity — who has authored 9 books on teaching — has released a new title called Active Learning: 40 Teaching Methods to Engage Students in Every Class and Every Subject, which she co-wrote with the late Barry Gilmore. 
    We touch a bit on that book and what Gravity’s working on now, but I thought of this conversation as a “Teach Like Yourself, Revisited”. I wanted to know how her thinking has changed around this topic, and the role authentic teaching plays now. Listen in as we discuss:
    How “teaching like yourself” (making a conscious and intentional effort to tap into your own personal power and being courageous) is more important now than ever What Gravity has learned about authentic teaching and learning since publishing her book on that topic Has she changed her mind on anything? What would she add? How teachers can integrate engagement strategies in a way that feels authentic and meaningful, rather than just tossing something into their instructional day because they think (or are told) they should The impact of authenticity on students, and specific, practical ways we can make sure students are able to be their true, authentic selves in the classroom Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion.

    • 32 min
    EP293 When students don’t want to think for themselves or put in effort, try this.

    EP293 When students don’t want to think for themselves or put in effort, try this.

    Do you feel like self-advocacy among students is a pervasive problem? As in, if students don’t know what to do, they won’t ask questions or seek out more information … they’ll just sit there and do nothing. If something is challenging, they don’t seem to be interested in improving their skills, or learning for the sake of learning. They just give up. 
    In response to this, many teachers feel like they have to work harder than their students are working. They have to keep going the extra mile to make lessons personalized and engaging and put all these additional supports and interventions in place to help students be successful, all while many of their students are doing the bare minimum.
    I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few years exploring this phenomenon, and why it’s becoming more and more common. The more that I learn about student disengagement, the more I am convinced that the solution is NOT to put the onus on teachers to make their lessons more engaging and personalized. An amazing lesson isn’t going to get through to a kid who’s not willing to engage in any mental effort.
    Is it possible to teach kids how to take initiative and persevere through difficult tasks?
    Absolutely. I’ll share what I’ve learned in this podcast episode.
    I’m also sharing 2 free resources for implementing the practices in this episode with your students:
    Attend a free online training with me! I’m conducting two in February, one for middle school teachers and one for high school teachers. Both are designed to help you reimagine student engagement in your classroom, and rethink what might be possible for your students. A replay link will be sent to everyone who registers, so if you miss it or don’t see this podcast until it’s over, catch the replay by signing up at FindingFlowSolutions.com. Download a free 5 lesson unit and try it out with your students All 6 high school units and 4 of the middle school units in the Finding Flow curriculum are ready now. The first unit, called Foundations of Flow, can be accessed for free. Get the free unit and see what else is available here: https://shop.truthforteachers.com/collections/finding-flow-solutions Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion.

    • 24 min
    EP292 How I'm planning and setting goals this year

    EP292 How I'm planning and setting goals this year

    I’m back from my sabbatical and excited to share how I used my time off and what I’m planning for 2024! I’m sharing more about my personal daily art practice in December (which I plan to continue) and time with family over the holidays.
    I also discuss my approach for the new year, which is flexible intentionality. I want to be deliberate about where I invest my time while holding plans loosely and staying open to necessary adjustments.
    Additionally, you’ll hear what I’m working on for 2024, including:
     Why I moved the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Online Summit to spring instead of summer and how the event is changing this year My vision for free online trainings throughout the year on Finding Flow Solutions (my curriculum line to help students manage their focused attention, time, and energy). The first workshops are happening in February for middle and high school teachers! The new 40 Hour AI course that will kick off this summer to help you feel confident about streamlining your work via artificial intelligence. Each month throughout the 2024-2025 school year, you’ll spend 30 minutes learning best practices live with me online and 30 minutes afterward experimenting, asking questions, and sharing ideas. Since I’ll have curated the best tools and prompts for you, just this one hour a month of training + experimentation will equip you to trim hours off your workload in a thoughtful, responsible, and ethical way. The new option I’m offering for the Truth for Teachers Daily Encouragement podcast. If you want daily audio messages of encouragement from me, you can pay $3.99/month through Spotify OR you can now make a one-time payment of $19.99. Either way, you’ll get access to the entire podcast feed (going back to September) AND new daily episodes from now until that podcast ends on June 7th, 2024. I’ve got some awesome guests and topics lined up for you here on the bi-weekly Truth for Teachers podcast for 2024, as well. Listen in to hear more about what I’m focusing on. Happy New Year!
    Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion.

    • 22 min

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