Teaching Middle School ELA
Welcome to the Teaching Middle School ELA podcast, where we are dedicated to helping English Language Arts teachers create dynamic and engaging lessons for their students, while also managing the day-to-day responsibilities that come with being a Middle School ELA teacher.
As educators ourselves, we understand the challenges of finding a work-life balance that allows us to pursue our passion for teaching while also enjoying our personal lives. That's why each Tuesday, hosts Caitlin Mitchell and Jessica Cannata share practical and innovative solutions for managing your workload and staying inspired in your teaching practice.
Whether you are looking for fresh ideas to inspire your students, strategies for improving your writing instruction, or tips for managing your time more effectively, this podcast is designed to provide you with the tools you need to thrive as a Middle School ELA teacher.
Join us each week for curriculum and lesson ideas, classroom stories, and interviews with fellow educators who are experts in the field. We believe that with the right support and resources, you can create a classroom environment that encourages students to become strong and passionate learners.
If you teach reading and writing to middle schoolers and want to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices in ELA education, then this is the podcast for you! Tune in every week and let us help you make a difference in the lives of your students and in your own teaching career.
Teaching Middle School ELA
Monday Mindset: Attitude Is a Little Thing That Makes a Big Difference
In today's Monday Mindset episode, I'm exploring how a positive attitude can transform setbacks into comebacks. Considering Winston Churchill's wisdom on attitude, I'll share a personal story about teaching my son resilience through a football loss, and draw inspiration from Steph Curry's optimism. You'll learn how a positive outlook can enrich relationships, attract uplifting connections, and foster greater happiness and success. I'll also discuss the power of choice in shaping a fulfilling life and highlight how our motivational talks go beyond academics to develop compassionate and capable individuals. Tune in for practical insights and heartfelt reflections on building resilience and positivity.
Here's to another day of intentional living!
Well, hello teachers, and welcome to your Monday Mindset podcast episode. These are short, little snippets of thoughts, reflections that I share with you on a weekly basis, that are focused around mindset things that we can do to live our best lives, to live an intentional life, and I invite you to not just listen to these for yourself and how they apply to you in your life, but consider sharing them with other people too. Consider sharing them with your students every Monday and having a conversation about it and doing a reflection together, because I think a lot of these thoughts, these topics, these questions are just a part of being human, and sometimes being human can feel lonely and to know that other people are struggling through some of the same challenges that you are and are benefiting from having these types of conversations is hugely powerful in allowing us to get to be the best version of ourselves, to take who we are and who we be and who we show up in the world as to that next level. So I really hope that you enjoy these Monday mindsets and, if you do, let us know over on our Instagram at Evie academics. Thanks so much for listening and let's dive into our Monday mindset. Hello you guys, and welcome back to another Monday mindset episode.
Speaker 1:Today we're talking about the powerful impact of attitude, and it's Winston Churchill who is credited with saying you know, attitude is that little thing that makes a big difference. It's all about perspective, right, as always. I feel like that's the thing that we talk about the most on the podcast with our Monday Mindsets is perspective how we choose to see things. And today we're going to dive into how your attitude really shapes your reality and how you can harness the power of having a positive attitude to really elevate and change your life. So your attitude is the lens through which you view the world, and this influences how we perceive challenges, how we interact with others, how we approach our goals, pretty much just how we exist in this world. And a positive attitude can really transform obstacles into opportunities and can transform setbacks into comebacks, and, conversely, a negative attitude can turn even the smallest little thing into just an insurmountable issue. And the good news is is that as humans, we have the power to choose. We talk about that. Life is choice and so is attitude, and in doing so and choosing our attitude, we shape our reality. So it really is this incredibly powerful way to think about life that it is choice. Attitude is so, so important.
Speaker 1:And in fact I had a conversation with my son I think I talked about this a couple episodes ago where he was really upset that he lost in his championship game in his football camp. He was having a bad attitude and we had a little conversation around yeah, it's okay to be disappointed, to lose I don't blame it, man, I don't like to lose either and it's how we choose to then respond to that feeling of getting frustrated with losing, especially if you put all this time, effort, energy, attention into being the best that you can possibly be, you leave it all out on the court and you still lose the game. And it's just a game. Right At the end of the day, it's just a game. And so, talking to him about having a positive attitude about it, how much that's going to help him boost his resilience, because life is full of ups and downs, that's just it is. It's just the reality. There are good times, there are bad times, there are easy times, there are hard times, whatever it might be, and with the right attitude, you can navigate those challenges. You can navigate those roller coasters of life with grace, with strength, maintaining that positive outlook. You are better equipped to handle stress and you bounce back more quickly from adversity, right? So it's like I think Steph Curry talked about this once in one of his uh, you know post-game interviews someone just asking him, you know how does he maintain his positive attitude on the court and it's like, okay, well, that play didn't work, but I'm going to hustle back on defense, right, it's the next play, it's the next play, it's the next shot, right? So I'm not sitting and sulking on the end of the court because I missed my three. I'm getting back on defense and then I'm getting ready to go shoot my three again. I bounce back quickly because I have a positive outlook. Right, I'm not going to sit and ruminate on the fact that I missed that three-pointer. I got to get back on defense.
Speaker 1:Positive attitude, so positive attitude, man. It also enhances your relationships. Think about the people that you're naturally drawn to, the people you want to spend more time with. They're those people that just have that exuberance of positivity, of optimism. Think about the people that we don't want to be around, those energy vampires, the people who are always negative, always complaining, always like whatever the world is against them. They are a victim to their circumstance. That is not good for us if we want to elevate ourselves to the next level of life, right, cultivating a positive attitude, we have a stronger relationship with people, more positive relationships with friends, with family, with colleagues, and that network of positive connections that provides invaluable to support to you, invaluable encouragement to you. Right, a rising tide lifts all boats. So imagine if we are friends with a group of people who are really positive and I'm not saying like toxic positivity by any means. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm just talking about choosing to see that life happens for you, that, yeah, that event sucked, and how am I choosing to look at it? Right, and whatever, even if it is.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing that's interesting about this, even if it is quote unquote, however you choose to define toxic positivity, does that matter if you're happy, if you're happier in life, right? I just think about like there's so much judgment. There's so much judgment all the time, especially on social media. There's just so much judgment, and I've really released judgment of other people from my life because it has nothing to do with me, my judgment of others. When I judge someone else, I'm actually judging myself, and so I try to look at that from a perspective of I have no right to judge somebody else in the way in which they are choosing to live their life, especially if they are somebody who is happy, especially genuinely showing up to life with a good, positive attitude, and those are the people I want to be around.
Speaker 1:Positive attitude fuels your success. It motivates you to stay focused, to stay persistent, even when you are faced with challenges, and so it can be really hard to cultivate a positive attitude, especially if you are surrounded by people who are not positive, who are negative, who pull you down. That's why facebook groups oh my gosh are so just the bane of my existence, and in fact, we moved our EB teacher community off of Facebook, and since we did that, I don't have to go into Facebook anymore, and to not be there in that space has lifted such a cloud of negativity from my life that I don't even have to allow to take up space anymore for me. Right? We really want to intentionally cultivate this positive attitude. You also want to. I mean whatever you can do, whatever you want, but something that I do that has really helped me and benefited me in my life is my Instagram. I have curated to be things that are only serving my greater good. I no longer follow people that are negative, that complain about things whatever, like I don't need that in my life, and that's my choice, right? You can choose to do whatever you want, and, again, there's no judgment. And if you want to be positive and have positive people around you, it's really helpful to intentionally curate positive surroundings, right? So I want to give you a couple strategies to help you shift your perspective, to elevate your mindset. Surround yourself with positivity, right what I just shared as an example Focusing on solutions.
Speaker 1:Right, when we're faced with a problem, as opposed to focusing on what's going wrong, what can we do to address the issue? What can we do to shift right? In business, there are so many things that go wrong. Every single day there's problems. My job as the CEO of EB is to solve problems, is to help the team solve problems, so my day in and day out of my role is solving problems. So I'm always faced with a problem, and instead of seeing them as problems, I see them as opportunities. How are these things going to allow us to even better serve our teachers, or even better serve our community, or whatever it might be? And so I have that positive approach because it allows me, quite frankly, to feel more in control and more optimistic about what the potential future outcome could be self-care you know, I was talking to somebody today after listening to a podcast episode, just about like the number one thing that you can do to cultivate happiness in your life is to take care of your mental wellbeing.
Speaker 1:Yes, your physical wellbeing, yes, your emotional wellbeing. But if you think about your mental wellbeing as being so essential for maintaining a positive attitude, we got to take care of ourselves. We've got to take care of ourselves and I'm not just talking about like self-care of um going to get a pedicure. That's great, and in fact, I haven't even gotten a pedicure in like seven months. I've not gone. I just don't have time and I'm still incredibly happy because I take care of my mental wellbeing, because I take care of my emotional wellbeing. It is forefront and center for me all the time. How am I taking care of myself so that I can pour into other people, because that's what I'm here to do, right? So incorporate some of these strategies into your daily routine. Really work on just thinking about what does it mean and how does it work to cultivate a positive attitude, to change your perspective Because, at the end of the day, life is choice.
Speaker 1:Life is choice. We get to choose to see the good. We get to choose to focus on solutions. We get to choose to embrace challenges with grace. We get to choose to create a more positive and fulfilling life and, again, that's a choice. You don't have to do that, but if you're listening to this episode, you probably are interested in doing that.
Speaker 1:All right, you guys, if this landed for you, send me a message on Instagram. I would love to hear from you and hopefully you know you get to share this with your students in some capacity as well, and I do hope that you share the Monday Mindsets with your students. You know, when I was in the classroom every Monday, I always started with some sort of motivational talk with my kids because, at the end of the day, yes, we're talking about English and my goal is for them to leave my classroom good people, contributing citizens to our society, people who care about others, people who are equipped to handle difficult situations, to rise to their fullest potential. It wasn't just about English, right, it was about so much more and teaching the whole student, and I really hope that you feel that these Monday mindsets help you as a whole teacher. All right, you guys. Here's to another great week of living intentionally.