Looking to start the 2024 year strong within your classroom? Discover how a simple yet powerful exercise can transform your mindset and boost morale in our latest episode of the Extraordinary Educator podcast. We, Danielle and Sari, reflect on the past year, discussing the challenges educators have faced and emphasizing the paramount importance of self-care for educators. We believe that just like everyone else, teachers need to prioritize their own well-being to effectively care for their students.
The highlight of the episode is an enlightening activity we call 'Courageous Compliments', designed to foster positivity in the education community. This practice involves giving genuine compliments and openly accepting them, breaking the norm of deflecting praise. It's a heartfelt compliment exchange that underscores the difficulty yet significance of accepting compliments. Listen in as we delve into how this activity can be adapted for students, and even incorporated into home life. We also challenge you to compliment three people this week and watch as positivity radiates. As we usher in the New Year, we share an engaging and practical activity to kick off your year on a high note, without the stress of impossible-to-keep resolutions.
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Sari:
Curriculum Associates presents the Extraordinary Educators podcast with hosts Danielle Sullivan and Sarah Loveris. Here tips, best practices and successes to improve your teaching and leadership and drive student growth and learning. We're here for you.
Danielle:
Hello everyone, welcome to the Extraordinary Educator podcast. I'm Danielle.
Sari:
I'm Sarah. Welcome back, Danielle. We're so excited you are here.
Danielle:
Yahoo, it's good to be back, and it's just us this week on the podcast and guess what? Happy New Year.
Sari:
Yes, 2024. Bring it on. So what is on your mind, Danielle, as we head into this new calendar year?
Danielle:
Oh my gosh so much. First of all, gratitude for a brand new year. 2023 was a very difficult year for myself personally, but I know it's been a really hard year for a lot of people in the world, the whole world. It's been really just a challenging year. So we've heard from educators that, especially as they closed out to summer, now that we're starting a brand new year not academic year it's really important for educators to remember that they are human too, and they really need to take care of themselves as they're caretaking their students. So I have an activity that we've shared that really works. What do you think?
Sari:
Yes, let's do it. I think it's so important because we've said this many times before but you can't pour from an empty cup and it starts with you. And it's so powerful when you make these changes because you'll see the same changes in your students and perhaps in your home life too. So tell us about this activity.
Danielle:
It is called courageous compliments. Now, for some reason, as the educators and if you're listening, I also find it a lot more with female educators for some reason we have a hard time taking compliments. So here's how this works. It's very simple. You give someone a compliment I'm not just going to compliment something like physical, like I'm actually going to give someone a compliment. But here's the kicker when you give the person a compliment, they have to say thank you, it's true. So here we go, let's try it. So, siri, I appreciate you. You are always consistent, you are so responsive, you are so caring, and I just love being on this podcast with you.
Sari:
Thank you, it's true. Why is that so hard? I don't know why our natural reaction is to come back with a reason why it's not true, but obviously you wouldn't be saying that to me if I usually think you were true. So I think, when you're in the moment, just try so hard to just actually take it in, don't deflect, don't pass it on to someone else. Whoa, it's because of you. It's so, so hard, but I did it and so can you. So, danielle, do you want to try a flip? I'll give you a compliment now. Sure, danielle, thank you so much for bringing your authentic self to everything you do. Last night, we had an event with Extraordinary Educators from the class of 2023. If you're listening, teachers, thank you so much again for your time and, danielle, you were able to really lift their spirits and part some incredible wisdom on them and just really create a lot of camaraderie with that class. So thank you, thank you.
Danielle:
It's true it is hard, it's hard to take it in, and I just I want to offer you can do this with every human that is a human your students, your own children, your spouses, your family, anybody. But if you want to do this a little bit more with students, another version of this you could do a complement circle. You could have students write a compliment, put their name on the top of the page, then have all the students write compliments for that student and then they could just read it and all of the students together could say thank you. It's true, like you could do a coral thing as a little bit more of a psychological, safe way of doing that activity. But try to compliment three people this week, see what happens. And then the other thing I wanted to offer is a quick activity as you start the new year. I'm not going to have you do a thousand resolutions that you won't keep. I mean, how many do you keep, sarri?
Sari:
I don't do new year's resolutions because, for that exact reason, my success rate was, was was precisely zero percent. So I have, I have, some goals, but they're not. They're not. You know, they're ambitious but not impossible, but I like to have them ongoing until they get completed, if that makes sense.
Danielle:
Yes, I have learned consistent daily habits are more effective than a sweeping resolution on exactly.
Danielle:
However, this is a practice that you can think about as you are bringing in the new year Start, stop, keep. So what do you want to start doing this year that that maybe you weren't doing before? What do you want to stop doing this year and what do you want to keep doing this year? It's an exercise you can do with your family, your students. It's just a quick. It's not a big whole new year's resolution. It's just three kind of mindful ways of of changing your energy for the new year. So do you have anything off the top of your head, sarri, that you would start? Yes, I do. Thank you for asking.
Sari:
Start getting more sleep, Stop not taking compliments. That was really hard for me and I and I feel like we are in the workplace and at home. I'm very supported and I need to just own it and then keep wanting to learn and learning in different areas of my life. What about you?
Danielle:
Danielle, I definitely want to stop over functioning. That is something that is really important. I want to start setting stronger boundaries for myself and learning the word know which that leads to the over functioning piece. I have been everywhere and then I want to keep my positive attitude. I think I've gone through a lot of really intense hardships in the last couple of months and I still am finding silver linings and things, and I really I want to keep making sure that I see joy in the sorrow, because that's the human experience, so I'll keep on keeping on.
Sari:
Thank you for sharing that Absolutely, and, for those of you listening, feel free to write this down or put it someplace that you see every day or, you know, make a word doc on your computer, just so you can really hold yourself accountable for what you want to remember that you're doing so great, what you want to start doing and what you want to bring into the new year to keep doing.
Danielle:
Yes, we appreciate you and if you like what you are hearing, please subscribe. Please share this podcast with your friends and comment, find us on all the places you can find us, and we'd love to hear your start, stop, keep or how you are giving compliments to people.
Sari:
Yes, so thank you so much for being here and happy new year. We will see you next week. Get inspired by following us on social media and please tag us in your posts on Twitter at curriculum so, and on Instagram at my iReady. If you have feedback about the podcast, a topic of interest or want to be a guest, email extraordinary educators at cainkcom. Subscribe, where you listen to podcasts, and if you'd like to help more educators like you join the conversation, please leave a review.
Danielle:
And remember, be you be true, be extraordinary. The Extraordinary Educators podcast is produced by curriculum associates. Editing by whiteboard geeks, social media by Atstie Hannon, guest booking by Sarri Laveris, production by Hailey Browning. This podcast is copyright, material and intellectual property of curriculum associates.