I don’t post solo episodes that often, but I felt like it was time to share a few thoughts on what’s working well for me in this chapter of school. It’s been just 3 weeks back after being away for maternity leave and my heart is full and actually–surprisingly–kind of happy! Shocker, right? Anyway, to get the full explanation, jump into the podcast attached. Show notes / references of things I mention in this show are at the bottom of this post.

What has held me up?

1. FFTs (Brene Brown unlocking us): giving myself over to sucking
2. The opposite of an Irish goodbye: sneaking in almost undetected with very little fanfare
3. Leaning on the people around me: takes incredible trust
4. Being honest with my admin–quick touch base, people saying “be gentle”
5. Designing lessons that are self-guided: students are in and out, my time outside of class is more limited
6. Marking inside class time
7. Dealing with the stress, not the stressor: Burnout. Getting myself into peak fighting shape. 
8. It takes incredible Bravery to be able to do less–it’s going against my normal programming in this space, in this career, in this body
9. Productivity is not a sign of my worth as a teacher: inspired by Liz Kleinrock and her work around disrupting grind culture in schools
10. Bad couch thinking: it doesn’t matter how uncomfortable something is, I will adapt and tell myself that something is okay, even when it is downright awful

Things I mentioned:

• Brene Brown on FFTs from her Unlocking Us Podcast  
• GOA wayfinding course
• Jennifer Gonzalez Self Paced Learning
• Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski
• Liz Kleinrock on Instagram
• Disrupting Grind Culture in Schools
• Liz Kleinrock’s Teach and Transform site
• Angela Terpstra Episode 

How might leaders in education not let the crisis of this pandemic go to waste? Today on the show, I have the privilege of speaking to Dr Angela Terpstra, head of The Bishop Strachan School.

When I think of transformative leaders, Dr Angela Terpstra has been at the top of my list for as long as I have known her. After speaking with her for this interview, I had about 50,000 other questions come into my head and little foot trails that I wanted to follow her around on, but I really tried to focus this conversation specifically on leading through crisis. I think so many of us are grappling with this now. Whether you hold a formal or informal leadership role in your school, you are going to really benefit from hearing Dr Terpstra’s perspective on how she has been guiding her school through these times. You are without a doubt going to notice a leadership approach that centres on vulnerability, courage, and collaboration. Also, you might be surprised to hear her unconventional take on self-care, so keep listening for that. 

Dr Terpstra could certainly lead a leadership master class, so let’s pull up a chair, grab our notebooks, and click on the link to get started.

Things Mentioned in This Show:

Michael Crummey’s novel The Innocents