*New Series: The Truth Be Told "Still In a Meeting"

This new podcast series stems from my original idea to share practical make and takes - easy tips along with real life shared stories - so that you can easily create joyful experiences in your classroom, daycare centers, and homes right away. In this series I am excited to talk with you about what is really happening in education right now.
I am also going to share with you some of the really funny things students have told me over the course of my career… and sometimes… these interactions change our perspective or direction. So - Grab a cup of coffee and a notebook … I can’t wait to share these stories with you. The Truth Be Told

This episode is about being present for our students.

*Part of the series: The Truth Be Told

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Transcript

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Welcome to Let's Talk Teacher to Teacher podcast. My name is Dr. Gina Pepin. I am so happy to meet you. I have a really great passion for early literacy and teacher preparation, but you can learn more about me and my experiences, etc. at www.ginapepin.com. So this new podcast stems from my original idea to share those practical make and takes, those easy tips along with some real life shared stories so that you can very easily create joyful experiences in your classrooms, your daycare centers, and homes right away. But in this series, I'm excited to talk with you about what is really happening in education right now. I am also going to share with you some of those really funny things that students have told me over the course of my career. And sometimes, these interactions change our perspective or our direction. So grab a cup of coffee and a notebook. I can't wait to share these stories with you. The truth be told. Still in a Meeting This podcast is entitled Still in a Meeting. So according to my door sign, it says I'm still in a meeting. And we kind of have this ongoing joke with the janitor in our building because if you accidentally leave your clip or your tag pinned to the part that says you're still in a meeting or you've gone home for the day but you're still really there, we kind of chuckle about the things that we get so wrapped up in our day that we forget to change. But But it just really made me think about some of the buzzwords that we've been talking about in education right now. And some of those things are like being present. We know that if we're still in a meeting, technically, we are not present for our students. So being present means really being able to focus on one thing at a time. It means you're focused and you're engaged. You're here. You're in the here and the now and you're not distracted. You're not thinking about what you have to do for dinner or that you have to get gas on the way home. It means that you're there, you're 100% vested and you're not wanting or actually like feeling that you need to be somewhere else. It's one of those things that we need to develop as educators as a habit because so many of us as adults and even as our own children, many people really don't know how to be present. Our students, of course, need us to be present, but some of us just are not physically present and some of us are not even mentally present for our students and when you're not present believe me your students they can see it they can feel it they can sense it they know you're distracted because that's when someone gets up someone gets into a little bit of mischief they make a little they cause a little bit of trouble some things just start happening in your closet because they know you're not 100% focused so why is it so important well being present helps make us better listeners. It really helps us understand who our students are better. It helps us to focus on what their needs are. It helps us to read some social cues, what's going on around us. Example, you know, someone may be crying. Someone may have something that they need and we are not in tune with what that is at that moment. And that's why it's really, really important because we could miss some of that key information from our students that may help unlock that particular door or that particular puzzle piece that we've been trying to fill in with some gaps with our students. And we may have just missed this because we are not present at the time. This is one of those really hard things that we've noticed that since the COVID shutdown and lockdown is that it is just as hard for some educators to be present as it is for our students. We have to be able to recognize where our mind is at all times. Like, is your mind with you? Are you thinking about something else. It helps us also be mindful and appreciate everybody and everything that's around us, right? Where all of a sudden when we are present, we become so much more aware of our food, our conversations, our community, the people that are sitting next to us, right? Those conversations. It really helps us to feel. It helps us to feel really, really deeply. It helps us to feel extreme gratitude. It helps us to feel joy. It helps us to feel happiness. But most importantly, by modeling what it should look like to be present and be mindful of everybody and everything is such a key element that we, and of such a great importance for us and our students at this time. We can help our students develop those skills by modeling what it looks like. What does it look like? What does it feel like? How should I act? So I ask you in just this brief podcast today, in what ways are you present for your students? And on top of that, think about what ways are you present for your students, your family, and your friends? So if anything, think about what sign is on your door. Does it say still in a meeting or does it say that you are here and present? Thanks for joining me today on this was a Let's Talk Teacher to Teacher podcast. This is part of my new series on The Truth Be Told. Until next time.