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Do What Makes You Feel Alive Ep. 10

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Do What Makes You Feel Alive

woman feeling alive with title do what makes you feel alive

We all want the magical feeling of being energized and in tune with the world, feeling powerful and inspired. Listen to this episode to learn ways to do more of what makes you feel alive!

Show Notes:

Episode summary: 

When you are doing something you love, that challenges you a bit and that you find profoundly worthwhile, you are taking charge of your life and creating intrinsic happiness. If you want to improve your life, improve the quality of your experiences. Take control of the things you can so that what you do, when, and with whom will enable you to do your best work.

In this episode: 

Have you ever experienced one of those magical moments where everything seems to come together and life feels rich and exciting and brilliant? Those are the times we feel most alive. When do you feel most alive? And better yet- how can you experience those magic moments more often? Stay tuned because in this episode we are going to talk about how to do more of what makes you feel alive.

Describing the Optimal Experience

  • These are magical moments.
  • It is a feeling and a sense of awareness, a form of excitement and curiousity and energy all coming together.
  • It is newness, possibility, interest, engagement, and yes, magic.
  • It makes you feel more alive.
  • Children see magic everywhere because they look for it and because they believe in it.
  • What would happen in your life if you looked for magic and believed in it?

Examples of feeling fully alive:

  • Michele shares being at a conference with others and being excited and charged up, ready to return home with new ideas and energy. She was excited about possibilities and the idea doing something good in the world using your best talents and gifts.
  • Ruth Reichel discussed her workplace at the New York Times in her book Save Me The Plums: “The energy in that office was so potent it was like we pulled the cork on a bottle of champagne and released a vibrant explosion.”
  • Paula shares an example of being a waitress in high school. It was a  mundane job, but the team made it fun and full of energy. They were smiling, laughing and serving food like no one’s business.

What makes us feel most awake and alive? How can we create this experience?

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly is based on decades of his reserch on the positive aspects of the human experience. He coined the term Flow as  joy, creativity, total involvement in life.

When you are in flow…

  • You are absorbed, you can lose track of time, and hours can go by without you knowing.
  • You feel exhilaration and a deep sense of enjoyment that becomes a memory for what every moment should be.
  • You are able to focus and concentrate on the task at hand, which requires some sort of intrinsic motivation.
  • You lose self-consciousness- it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks.
  • When using physical skills we can go higher, faster and stronger.
  • It is the antidote to the feeling “is this all there is?”.

Here are some general principles for how you can get into a state of flow:

  • Choose challenging experiences- not too challenging, but that require you to use your skills. It takes effort and stretches you.practice- we usually don’t go into flow the first time we do something
  • Have clear goals and get immediate feedback- think of a chess player or a golfer- mastery involves levels.
  • Pay attention to experiences and learn to enjoy them.
  • Avoid noisy environments and interruptions.
  • Understand your values and what has meaning for you- then choose accordingly.
  • Order your life so that what you do, when, and with whom will enable you to do your best work.

You have more control over this than you may think.

We share Eric ‘s story as an example. He felt that the way his curriculum was being delivered was boring- boring for students and for him. He had the urge to shake things up. He designed a new way to deliver the curriculum, incorporating a passion project. It was a change and there was a possibility it wouldn’t work. The students or parents might complain. It might turn out to be too much work- but it wasn’t. He loved designing the project and he loved teaching the unit and it was a smashing success. A boring, lifeless, mundane unit became electric.

That is how you order your life so that you can feel more alive!

Paula gives another example of getting into the flow late at night.

Flow can look like workaholism, but it is different. When you love your work, and create structures that allow you to do your best work, your work becomes highly fulfilling to you. It becomes a part of your best life, not a challenge to it.

Workaholism is what you have when you have to give up things you value and love and constantly do work that has no meaning and no challenge and gives you no fulfillment.

What would it look like if everyone lived from a place where they felt alive and energized, where they looked forward to every day and could see the possibilities in everything?

This is like capturing lightening in a bottle.

Burnout and complacency would be diminished. It is hard to be burned out when you are working with love and energy, when you are excited and happy and fulfilled.

Students in school would show fewer behavior challenges, more enjoyment, better discussions, and ultimately, better learning.

Your home life can also benefit.  We give the example of painting a room while listening to a podcast or audio book. Time flies, we are absorbed in the task and what we’re istening to, and actually looking for something else to paint so we can finish listening.

Paula shares an example from the 2017 movie, Jumanji. The movie is about young adults finding their internal value despite what they see as external limitations of their lives. They did this by getting into their flow.

Jumanji is actually a Zulu word for “many effects”.  These “effects” refer to “the exciting consequences of the game”,  in the movie, the ultimate effect is flow.

Michele shares an example of feeling the effects of someone else’s flow experience with Heather Headley, the Tony winning star of  the Broadway musical Aida. When Headley reaches an amazing note and belts it out it at length, the conductor, the orchestra, and everyone in the audience is moved to tears and awe.

The message is that you can take control of circumstances to create flow, and flow will affect your experience and possibly the life experience of others.

Quote:

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Howard Thurman

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

Book: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihalyi Csiksentimihaly

Book: Save me the Plums by Ruth Reichl.

Blog: Become a Magic Teacher

Connect With the Inspired Together Teachers Community: 

Download our FREE resource, The Inspired Teachers Guide to Taking Back Your Life.

Website: https:www.inspiredtogetherteachers.com

Instagram: Inspired-Together-Teachers

Facebook: Inspired Together Teachers

Facebook Teacher Warriors Group: Teacher Warriors Facebook Group

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inspired-together-learning/

Book: The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self

 

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?

If you are dedicated and caring but often overwhelmed and exhausted, join us at Inspired Together Teachers. We’ll give you inspiration, strategies and tips that help you navigate life’s challenges as a stronger, more confident, and more joy filled person, both in and out of the classroom.

Inspired Together Teachers will give you practical tools to experience more of what matters most in your life.

Co-hosts Paula Schmidt and Michele Vosberg are award winning educators with the experience and skills to help teachers thrive in life and work. They’ve taught at all levels, worked with thousands of teachers, and conducted workshops around the world. They are also the authors of the #1 best-selling book The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self.

Paula and Michele would love to have you to join them on their quest to live an inspired life.

 

What Every Teacher Needs to Know About Motivation Ep.2

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engaged children What Every TEacher Needs to Know About Motivation

Listen to this episode to learn more about why your students aren’t motivated and what to do to solve the problem.

 

Episode Summary:

Have you ever struggled to motivate yourself to do something? Have you ever struggled with student motivation? What about motivation of family members or friends? Well listen up, because today’s episode will rock your world.

Understanding how motivation works is key to creating circumstances for motivation to occur. We are motivated by having autonomy, the opportunity to master things and by finding purpose in our work. Once you understand this, it can change your teaching and your life.

In this episode:

Topic 1: We set the stage by discussing how motivation works.

Topic 2: There are three key factors to motivation- autonomy, mastery and purpose. What does autonomy look like and how can we use it to increase motivation?

Topic 3: Mastery is the desire to get better and better at something that matters. How can you add opportunities for mastery into your work and into your life?

Topic 4:  Finding purpose in whatever we do helps with motivation. What are some ways you can add purpose into your life and work?

Topic 5: How can you ”Solve” motivation problems? We share ideas to help you increase motivation in your world.

Quote:

“ There are only two ways to influence human behavior, you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.”

Simon Sinek

Quote:

“The most deeply motivated people- not to mention those who are most productive and most satisfied- hitch their desires to a cause larger than themselves. “

Daniel Pink

Resources mentioned in this episode:  

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with the Inspired Together Teachers Community:

 Download our FREE resource: The Inspired Teachers Guide to Taking Back Your Life.

Website: https:www.inspiredtogetherteachers.com

Instagram: Inspired-Together-Teachers

Facebook: Inspired Together Teachers

Facebook Teacher Warriors Group: Teacher Warriors Facebook Group

Linked In:  Inspired Together Teachers

 More About Inspired Together Teachers:

Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?

If you are dedicated and caring but often overwhelmed and exhausted, join us at Inspired Together Teachers. We’ll give you inspiration, strategies and tips that help you navigate life’s challenges as a stronger, more confident, and more joy filled person, both in and out of the classroom.

Inspired Together Teachers will give you practical tools to experience more of what matters most in your life.

Co-hosts Paula Schmidt and Michele Vosberg are award winning educators with the experience and skills to help teachers thrive in life and work. They’ve taught at all levels, worked with thousands of teachers, and conducted workshops around the world. They are also the authors of the #1 best-selling book The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self.

Paula and Michele would love to have you to join them on their quest to lived inspired lives.

 

 

Free Teacher Resources You Can Grab Right Now

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Did you know that we have a lot of great free teacher resources here at Inspired Together Teachers?

As our Christmas gift to you, we have eight freebies you can grab right now linked below.

If  you want to do some inspirational reading over the Christmas break, we’ve got a list of 25 of our favorite books about teachers.

 

The number one thing teachers tell us they need is help with motivation and classroom managment.   We’ve got a great guide for you!

 

 

Speaking of classroom management, did you know that how you phrase things makes a difference in how students respond?  We have a great list of  phrases you can use for better classroom management.

 

Here is a link for our favorite lesson plan template EVER.  It is a recipe for an actively engaged lesson!

Read more about it here and then grab the template!

The Lesson Plan Formula of Your Dreams

 

Every teacher needs quick and easy formative assessments. One of our favorite’s is 3-2-1.  Get a reproducible handout to use in your classroom.

Wondering how you can best use differentiation in your classroom?  We’ve got a guide that gives a great overview of  how to differentiate and then gives you specific examples of differentiation in action.Who doesn’t need that?

One of our reader’s favorites is our parent-teacher conference planning template.  Why not get ready for your next PT conferences?

Looking for a teaching job?  Get our guide for how to ACE Your Teaching Interview.

 

We hope you enjoy these free teacher resources!

Happy Holidays!

Our best,

Paula and Michele

 

Help Students Become Independent Learners

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Do you ever worry that students are too dependent, that they are not willing to take a risk or try something new or that they don’t seem to have good problem- solving skills? How can you help students become independent learners who are capable and confident?

Children learn resilience, problem solving and other independent learning skills by experimenting in childhood. Free play, running, climbing high things, rough and tumble experiences and tip-toeing around dangerous things such as playing in rivers or streams and building tree houses with hammers and nails teach children to try new things and to take risks.

In the not so recent past, it was common for children to spend summer days and after school time outside, riding bikes around the neighborhood or playing games with friends. These were largely unsupervised activities, which taught children to try things, negotiate with others, solve their own problems and to learn to be independent.

Today, we protect children from unknown and potentially dangerous experiences. We supervise play and activities more closely. Play dates with activities orchestrated by parents have largely replaced the open activities where children once roamed more freely, where they had more chances to experiment and problem solve on their own.

How can we counteract the unintended result of our safety measures?  Of course, we do not want children to be unsafe, but we do want them to learn independence. How can we can teach children to be more independent?

Encourage curiosity. 

Children are naturally curious. Encourage them to ask questions and explore new ideas. Include elements of choice in the curriculum that allow children to choose topics they are interested. Give them time and structures that allow for independent learning. This might include encouraging free choice reading, giving options when writing reports and building in time for “Genius Blocks” or “Power Hour.”  Many children are not used to making choices, so you may need to teach them how to make good choices. The reward is engaged learners who are learning to engage deeply in topics and work that is meaningful to them.

Teach planning and working strategies.

Some students don’t apply independent learning strategies because they do not have good strategies.  Teach study skills. Help students learn to plan, monitor their work, use calendars or agendas and effectively plan their time. These are all life skills that independent workers use. Students love to feel grown -up or adult like, remind them that these skills will help them be successful as adults. In their future jobs, they may not have a boss who tells them what to do every minute of the day. They need to be able to take tasks, break them down, determine a to-do list and plan time to do the work. It is never to soon to start teaching students independent work skills.

Deemphasize Tests

In this era of extreme testing and evidence- based learning, it may seem counter-intuitive to decrease the emphasis on tests. However, tests encourage one way of thinking and one right answer. The emphasis often becomes getting the right answer on the test rather than on the actual learning. Rather than putting the focus on doing something so they can pass the test, put the focus on how they can use the information and how knowing it will help them in the future. Helping students to apply the knowledge on the test will actually increase their learning and help them make connections to the wider world, both of which are good independent learning skills.

Reward struggles.

We hear a lot about developing growth mindset. Students need to believe their knowledge and learning capacity are not fixed, and that they have the ability to always be growing and developing. Part of growing is often the struggle. Rather than being a negative thing, the struggles often show us where we have potential to grow.

Encourage students when they are struggling. Remind them that new things are often hard and take work. Share stories of people, including yourself or people that they know, who have overcome challenges. Remind them that struggles pay off with comments such as, “Last week this was really difficult for you, but you worked through it and now you understand it.”  This helps build pride of learning by pushing through new and unfamiliar things.

Allow failure.

This one also sounds counterintuitive.  Just the mention of the word failure is enough to make some students and their parents break out in hives.

The school office is full of parents who drop by to deliver a child’s forgotten homework so their child will not be given a failing grade. Who is taking ownership of the potential failure? This is also true of the parents who does a child’s homework or builds a bridge for a student’s science fair. The message is that failure is unacceptable. I will do the work for you so you don’t fail. This teaches students to be dependent rather than independent. We need to remind students and parents that learning is the student’s job. Send parent newsletters with guidelines of acceptable ways to help.

Here is another example. What is gained when a teacher proudly announces that 80% of her class got a passing grade on the pre-test?  If students are going to learn, shouldn’t they fail the pretest? If they already know the material, they need different instruction. Passing the pre-test should not be a point of pride. It means the learning needs to be more challenging.

We often see failure as an end result. How could you reframe failure as an opportunity to grow? When a student fails at something it is a chance to redirect their thinking. Why did you fail? What do you need to know or what do you need to differently next time?  How could you change your behaviors or plan of action to improve your results? Don’t treat failing as a moral failure. Treat is as a growth lesson.

Consider allowing students to re-do work so that they actually learn it. If many students fail, use it as an opportunity to rethink your instruction.

Deemphasize grades.

Many students are overly focused on grades. The attitude is often, “Just tell me what I need to know to get an A.” In reality, good learning is as much about the process of learning as the outcome. Focus on the process. Encourage the small steps towards a larger goal. Teach students to evaluate their progress.  Simple exit slips can ask students questions such as, “What is one new thing you learned today?” or “What are two things you will need to do tomorrow to improve your presentation?”

Celebrate growth rather than perfect scores. Encourage a community of learners who learn and grow together, rather than posting star charts with a “race- to- the -top” mentality. Stop focusing on number or letter grades and focus more on formative assessment. This doesn’t mean that you don’t hold high standards, it means that you hold high standards for learning, not just grades. Lastly, don’t hold out grades as a form of motivation or as a form of reward or punishment. Keep in mind that the goal is learning.

What could you do this week to help students become independent learners? 

Our best,

Paula and Michele

 

Essential Tips for The First Weeks of School

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teacher books and pens: Essential tips for the first weeks of schoolThe first weeks of school can make or break how your school year unfolds. Getting off on the right foot will help you set expectations that will reward you all year long. The time you spend building community will pay off in terms of better relationships with students. Students will be more engaged with you and each other, which will result in fewer classroom management issues.

Here are a some strategies you can use in the first weeks of school that will set you up for a successful school year:  

Get to know students’ names as soon as possible.

Everyone likes to be called by name, and using students’ names when you talk to them is a sign of respect. Ask students how to pronounce unfamiliar names and if they prefer a variation or knick-name. Greet students at the door each morning using their names. Call on students by name. Seating charts and name tag tents on the desks may help in the first few days. Knowing names may seem like an obvious step, but making a real effort here shows students that you care.

Let students know a little about yourself.

Building good relationships with students will go a long way in making your school year run smoothly. Let the students know a bit about yourself. Tell a funny story about your dog. Talk about your favorite sports or activities. Share a read aloud from your favorite book. Students will respond better to someone they know, like and trust. You can share bits of yourself without oversharing or becoming a friend rather than a teacher.

Get to know students as individuals.

Building good relationships with students involves getting to know who your students are as individuals. Ask about their interests, backgrounds, families and favorite activities. Give students interest inventories or have younger students draw pictures of things that are important to them. Look at student records to find out about medical issues such as allergies or any other special concerns.

Get to know students as learners. 

The more you know about students as learners, the better you can help them learn. Give students learning inventories, multiple intelligences surveys or ask them to answer questions such as “How can I help you learn best?”  Other good questions are “Tell me about a time when learning was fun and easy for you,” and “Tell me a time when learning was a struggle for you.”

Be sure to check students’ IEPs and understand the type of accommodations you will need to provide. Ask for clarification if something is not clear.

Spend time building classroom community. 

Students who know, like, and understand each other will work better together. Time spent at the beginning of the year can go a long way towards building a positive classroom community. Use community building activities during the first weeks of school that help students to get to know each other. There many available activities, use your favorites or search for more on line.

Here is one we like:

Get on the Bus!

This activity works for all grade levels and across all content areas. Compile a list of questions that can have two answers. You can use general “getting to know you” questions or questions related to your teaching content.

Have students “Get on the bus” by standing in a straight line directly facing you.  You will ask the question and students will move off the bus either to the right or left.

For example:

“If you prefer pizza step to the right. If you prefer hamburger and fries, step to the left.”

Or a content example based on a novel:

If you think Charlotte will open the door, step to the right. If you think she won’t, step to the left.”

Ask students to get back on the bus and repeat with a different question. This activity doubles as a nice way to build some movement into the day.

Tour the classroom.

Show students where things are in the classroom. Be sure to point out which things they can access and which things are off limits, such as your desk. This is also a great time to discuss expectations about moving things and returning them to where they belong. If students are new to the school, plan a tour of the school as well. You can create a fun scavenger hunt to help students learn their way around.

Help students understand how to succeed in your class.

Have a good discussion about your expectations, hopes and dreams for them this year. Ask them what kind of classroom environment they want and what it would take to create that classroom. Discuss procedures such as those for sharpening pencils, using the bathroom, and turning in work. If you have any non-negotiable policies or procedures, explain them as well as the rationale for them. Students who understand the reason for rules and procedures are far more likely to uphold them.

Here is our post about creating rules and expectations with your class.

Get students excited about the content you will teach.

You likely love the content you will teach. Share your enthusiasm. One of the most important things teachers can do is get their students interested in learning.

Plan a fun activity that relates to the content they will learn this year. Let them use books or technology to explore and find five fun facts to share. Hang up a huge sheet of roll paper and let them write a graffiti wall of all the questions they have about a topic. Read aloud a favorite book with chapter ending cliffhanger. Look through your teacher manuals for puzzles or group activities that get students involved in something active.

The first weeks of school should be fun, build relationships, set expectations for the year, and start students on a learning journey. We hope your first weeks of school are fun and rewarding!

Wishing you the best in the first weeks of school,

Paula and Michele

 

 

 

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