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: Finding the Solution Instead of the Problem
Have you ever wondered how adopting a solution-focused mindset could change your teaching experience? Imagine tackling daily challenges with the belief that "everything is figureoutable." This simple yet powerful philosophy has the potential to empower you in ways you may not have considered before.
In this Monday Mindset , I share my personal journey with problem-solving and the importance of shifting from a victim mentality to a proactive, solution-oriented approach. This mindset isn't just about surviving tough situations; it's about thriving in them. I illustrate how this mindset can positively impact not just your professional life, but also your students' development, fostering an environment of collective growth and continuous reflection.
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. Well, hello, teachers, and welcome back to a another Monday mindset as we head into a new school year. Probably for most of you, you are back in the classroom or heading back to the classroom here soon, and I really want to kick off this school year together, focused on this Monday Mindset episodes. You know, I encourage you to really make them a part of your everyday practice. Perhaps this is something that you know you listen to this week's, every day this week before school starts, to just really put you in the right mindset, to give you just a little bit of motivation. Just, you know, keep me in your back pocket, as you know, coach Caitlin, if you will, to really help you get through this school year.
Speaker 1:When the going gets tough because inevitably it does that's how life goes and it is all about how we choose to view situations. There is no reality, there is only perception, and I think that's just a really important reminder as we head into this year. And so this week's Monday Mindset episode is really about finding the solution instead of the problem, and I wanted to start with this one because, as teachers, you know we have a lot of problems. There are a lot of things that come up, there are a lot of issues at school every single day. Right there, there could be something that could potentially be seen as a problem in in any given situation. And you know, I think one of my hidden talents is is being a problem solver, not in that I'm always the one coming up with a solution to the problem, but in that I'm always seeking to find a solution to a problem, whether that's through me being creative or reaching out to my team, or taking a long walk, thinking outside the box, whatever it might be. And so I want to talk in this particular episode about.
Speaker 1:You know, when we find ourselves in a problem or in a situation that could be perceived as problematic, you know how do we move from being stuck in a problem to moving to a solution focused mindset. You know, instead of falling into the trap of there's always a problem and I'm always a victim to my circumstances, how can we walk into every situation? You know, looking for a solution, or, I like to say, looking for a lesson as well. Um, marie forleo is famous for saying everything is figureoutable, and I love that perspective, because when we approach a problem with that lens on, we are going to figure out a way to find a solution to the problem, whatever it might be. So putting that on as we kind of head into today's episode, so you know, we've all probably encountered people who seem to find a problem in every situation. You know, there's always something wrong. There's this one mom on the baseball team who just there's always something wrong, always something to complain about. She focuses on why things won't work. You know how they've been wronged and it's really hard for me to sit there because I understand. You know, it is natural when we're facing challenges that sometimes we can fall into this thought loop of constantly dwelling on problems. But when that happens we really fall into a victim mentality and that can be incredibly disempowering and counterproductive. I mean, yes, when we face a problem and it's upsetting or whatever it might be, we absolutely can feel our emotions and have a moment with, to feel the way that we feel. We don't want to negate or try to shove our emotions away. We want to feel the feelings. And once we go through that and we process that, well now how can we, can we become more, uh, solution oriented? Because really we have the power to change that mindset and approach life, approach every situation with a solution oriented attitude.
Speaker 1:You know that's one of my jobs at EB as the CEO is to solve problems. The majority of my day is helping our team solve problems that they're facing, and so the majority of what I deal with on a consistent basis are problems. They're issues. You know, things only really come to me when we are facing a problem in customer service or in curriculum or in marketing or whatever it might be. I'm not often getting like, hey, everything's going well. Every day I'm often getting, hey, this, we got to fix this, this thing's going wrong, blah, blah, blah, whatever it might be. So in order to hold the capacity for that, I got to make sure that I have an attitude, a perspective, a capacity to look at things of like. Okay, I see that that's a problem, and now how can we move into a solution-oriented attitude? And so I want to first talk about why a solution-focused mindset is so important.
Speaker 1:Okay, first things first and I think this is maybe the most important is that it really empowers you, as the human in control of your life, to take control of your circumstances. You know, when you focus on finding solutions or when you come from the perspective of everything is figureoutable. You are no longer a passive victim to the things that are happening to you in your life. You, instead, are an active problem solver and this gives you a sense of agency over your life. This gives you a sense of understanding like, hey, life is choice. I can choose to sit here and dwell and ruminate and be upset and all these things, and I can also be more proactive, and that can boost your confidence and really make you feel like I do have agency over my life. You know, it isn't about the external of what happens. It's about the internal of how I feel about what happens. We've all heard that phrase. Life is 10%. What happens to you 99% how you respond. I mean or that's not good math 10%. What happens to you 90% how you respond? I would say it's maybe even 1%. What happens to you 90%? How you respond? I would say it's maybe even 1%. What happens to you 99% how you respond.
Speaker 1:The other thing that I love about having a solution-focused mindset is that it forces you to be creative and innovative. Instead of being stuck in that constant loop of negativity, now you open yourself up to an array of new possibilities and creative problem solving. And what this, when this happens, is? It leads to breakthroughs. It leads to opportunities that you might've otherwise missed if the problem didn't present itself. This is I cannot tell you how many times this has happened at EB, where something has occurred a problem that the solution became an innovative part of who we are as a company now, and so that's really neat to see like, oh, maybe these problems are serving me and my future in some capacity.
Speaker 1:And then the third one, when it comes to just having this solution focused mindset, is that this can improve your relationships and your interactions. You think about the people that you're drawn to, the people that you love being around. You want to be that type of person for others in their life. So when you approach challenges with this positive, we got it, we can do it. You inspire people around you, you motivate people around you. They are drawn to you. They just inherently want to like soak up that goodness of that energy that you possess, and that just leads to more, you know, meaningful relationships, both personally, both professionally. Your life just becomes richer as a result.
Speaker 1:So how can you start to really develop a solution focused mindset? How can you avoid the trap of constant problem finding, right Problem finding instead of like a parent yelling at you and being like, oh my God, this is such a problem. A parent yelling at me is prompting me to think of okay, we have an issue at hand. Maybe we can work together to find a solution, right? I do want to preface that, though, by saying sometimes people don't want a solution. If you're, you know, interacting with somebody and they're coming to you with a problem, sometimes people just want to be heard. They don't necessarily want you to automatically jump into being solution oriented, which is my default. So now, what I do when someone comes to me with a problem is I say do you want me to listen or would you like me to help you find a solution? And that's the very first thing that I say, especially to somebody on my team Um, cause, a lot of the times they just need somebody to talk to about how they're feeling regarding the problem that's arisen. So just a little side note on that.
Speaker 1:Okay, so a few strategies to help you shift your perspective. Number one reframe. You get to reframe the problem. So when you encounter a challenge, instead of focusing on what's wrong, perhaps you can ask yourself what can I do to improve this situation? Or how can I find a solution to the situation, or how is this situation or this problem teaching me a lesson? Sometimes there might not be a solution. Sometimes it might be the lesson that you needed to learn. That, you know, has been trying to get your attention for a long time. So I think about that too. Whenever I face a challenge or a problem, I'm like, okay, what am I supposed to learn from this? What have I been maybe missing and not seeing? What blind spot is coming up for me here? So that simple just shift in questioning can help you to start thinking about solutions.
Speaker 1:Number two, as we always tell our students embrace a growth mindset. Believe, believe. You gotta believe, believe that you have the ability to learn and to grow from every single situation. Challenges are opportunities for growth. When I'm facing a difficult time, I don't say I gotta go through this. I say I gotta grow through this. Right, it's just, it is it. Challenges changes. You know pain changes people and when you approach them with that mindset of like man, this is changing me for the better. It allows you, even in really difficult circumstances, to stay positive and solution focused. And you know I'm going through a really difficult time personally in my own life and for me it's been the greatest peace of mind and joy that I've been able to find, regardless of the fact that it has been very hard sometimes is this is changing me, this is growing me, this is serving me. I'm not necessarily looking for a solution right now, other than the solution to take care of myself right. So just something to keep in mind about having that growth mindset through challenges.
Speaker 1:This third one is so important. This is something I'm really working on my emotional regulation and trying not to, you know, go to that high place and intense place really fast, which I'm inclined to do, um, and I know a lot of us are but it's to stay calm and composed. So when we do have a problem, you want to take a moment to breathe. Don't immediately go into jumping into problem solving right. Absorb the information, really understand the problem at hand, take a deep breath, because staying calm and staying in an emotionally regulated state allows you to really think more clearly and rationally about potential solutions. You know we go to that like lizard brain, the child brain of our head, and we don't think clearly. But when we're able to stay in a calm, emotionally regulated state, we're able to have clearer thoughts about things. You know one of the.
Speaker 1:I went to a retreat recently and the woman who was in charge shared, you know, just about how important this emotional capacity that we expand, our ability to hold, you know, love and care and joy for others. The more that we can expand that capacity, the more we're able to hold space for the things that are difficult. And I thought it should give us such a beautiful metaphor that I actually shared recently at our batch planning live event was you know, if you put a drop of red dye into a small cup, that red dye really changes the makeup of that cup and that cup has a small capacity, right, I think of like a kid's sippy cup or something like that. But if you took that same piece of red dye and you dropped it into, let's say, a pool, you wouldn't even really see the red dye. It would dissipate so seamlessly into the rest of the molecules in the pool. And that's because the pool is a wider capacity. And so when we have a larger just capacity as a whole of this expansiveness of ourselves, of love, of emotions, of joy, of feeling all of this stuff, if we just are more expansive in and of ourselves, we have more space and capacity to hold the things that are difficult and to process them and to move through them with grace, with calm, with ease, right? We all know those people who, like, are totally unimpacted by things. You know, I try to move to be like that so that when my son is going through a difficult time or having a difficult day, you know my capacity to hold him is greater. But if I don't have that capacity, I'm not going to be able to be the loving, you know soft, gentle mom that I want to be to him in that moment, right? So that's why capacity is so important and that staying calm and composed is so important.
Speaker 1:Another point for this is to just break it down. When you have a big ass problem, that can often feel overwhelming. So if we break the big problem down into smaller, more manageable parts for those of us who are more logical right problem down into smaller, more manageable parts for those of us who are more logical right, we can tackle those parts one piece at a time and that makes finding solutions a little bit more achievable. So instead of let's say, I don't know, I am really having a hard time with teaching ELA as a whole, right, just as a whole, everything about it is awful. Well, let's break it down into manageable chunks. Instead of focusing on all of the things and sucking at all of them, let's focus on one of them. Let's solve for vocabulary first, right, or let's solve for grammar first, or whatever it might be. So we're breaking it down into more manageable chunks and kind of letting fires burn in the other places while we solve for this one problem.
Speaker 1:And then the last one that I think is so important and so many of us maybe are hesitant to do this because it's hard to seek help outside of ourselves, especially as teachers. We're very autonomous creatures, but I do think that this is hugely important is seeking input and collaboration from others. So we ran into a situation recently with a business not a big deal, but it was a problem and we needed a solution to it. And my capacity was very limited when the problem came to me. So I reached out to our team and I asked them. I said this is the problem. I want all of your ideas and I thought it was really neat to watch the collaboration come from everybody's conversations with each other, and we ended up finding a great solution as a result of that.
Speaker 1:But if I had been afraid to seek input because I felt like I needed to know all of the answers or I needed to be able to solve all the problems, because I've got this big ego. I'm not helping anybody right. So I like to think of like it's not about me, it's about working with others, it's about whoever I'm serving, right, that the problem that I need to solve is serving this person. It's not about me, it's about helping them and however I can get to that path, to that solution for them, um is going to be the path I'm going to take, because different perspectives, quite frankly, lead to very innovative solutions.
Speaker 1:So when we seek help outside of ourselves, we got to also be willing to receive that help, right? We can't ask for help and then shut everybody down. We got to take other people's opinions into consideration. So hopefully, by incorporating these strategies into your daily life, you can really start to cultivate this solution focused mindset and transform how you approach challenges, because, remember, every problem has a solution. We live in a world of opposites up and down, right and left, sun and moon, whatever it might be, problem solution and when we focus on looking for the solution, you empower yourself to really take control of your life, your circumstances, and make positive changes to live a life that is fulfilling, that's joyful, that's peaceful, that is unimpacted by inevitable problems that surface in our lives.
Speaker 1:So I hope that this Monday Mindset served you in some capacity. If it did, please share with others. I love recording these and you know, the more that you share with others, the more that we're able to spread this message of just really helping people lead fulfilling lives. So thank you, guys, so much for joining me. I'm so excited for the school year with you. I can't wait to spend Monday mindsets with you. Make sure that you're listening to this on repeat. Play this episode every day this week. Next Monday. Play next Monday's episode every day that week. It's a thing, maybe, that you listen to on your way to work or on your drive home from school, whatever it might be, but I just, if this is serving you, please let me know. I love to hear from you. You can send me a message over on our Instagram at EB academics. All right, you guys, here's to another great week of living intentionally.