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What They Didn't Teach You at Uni 🎓 · ✨️Aligned and Thriving: For Teachers🌿

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Hey, beautiful teachers. Welcome back to another episode
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of Aligned and Thriving for Teachers, the podcast where we
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get real, raw and pretty much just reflective about what it
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actually means to lead to teach and live aligned with a life
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that you absolutely deserve. Now today's episode is a special
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1 and it really sits close to home.
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This one I'm going to call what they didn't teach you at uni and
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the emotional side of teaching. So let's start here.
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Has anyone else finished uni and stepped into their classroom on
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day one and thought what the actual expletive am I doing
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here? Because like same, my hand is
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up. I'm like, oh, pick me, I still
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can remember this day. And if this is also you, or if
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that's you, I just want you to know that you are absolutely not
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alone. Let's be honest, they don't
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teach you half the stuff you actually need to know to be in a
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classroom. Like, you get your practise,
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sure, And you might even have had a few great mentor teachers
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when it comes to the daily emotional, mental and just
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logistical demands of the job. Like you're left flying blind.
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I'm being really honest. So let's talk about what they
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don't teach you at uni. I mean, I was at uni, what, 15?
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Nearly 20? Not going to talk too loud years
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ago, but I still can remember some of the stuff that I did
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there. I actually did an entire unit on
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school values and reasoning, which had, I don't even know
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what it had to do with anything. I just learned how to write a
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really good argument and then how to contradict myself in an
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argument, which I don't know. Does that treat that, does that
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teach you how to argue with parents?
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Because I don't really do that either.
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So I'm not sure what that subject was actually teaching
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me, but if you did go to university with me, you're
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probably nodding your head too and going, Yeah.
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And the lecturer like, oh, I'm not sure I am just, that was
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just a, a whole thing anyway. They don't teach you how to mark
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piles and piles of work when you've got a deadline above your
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head. They teach you how to write
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assignments. I got a high distinction in my
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music because I learned what the lecturer really liked and I
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wrote in a way that he would appreciate.
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And I got a high distinction because I just worked out he
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really liked it. If you read the readings.
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So if you quoted the readings in your assignments, you got bonus
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points. Literally.
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That did not teach me anything about physically teaching
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children music. And I teach music now, which,
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yeah, I look back and go, I didn't actually, I don't
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actually remember what I did in music.
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I know we marched around in a circle at one point, but yeah,
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it's, it's just, yeah. They don't teach you how to
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input data, how to track your student growth or how your
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school's reporting system even works.
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And every school tends to have a different one of those.
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Like, yes, you probably have your government system.
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You have a Catholic system, you have a private system.
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All of them have a different reporting system.
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I mean, you're lucky if you work in one system and you go from
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one school to another. And they're consistent.
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Maybe if you've learned, but over the course of my teaching
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career I've had to learn at least five different reporting
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systems and how to navigate them, and I don't think I've
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mastered any of them because as soon as I think I've got it,
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they change something and I'm lost again.
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They don't teach you how to write reports when every school
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has a different format. They didn't teach me how to
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write report comments. That was a whole learning
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experience and now we've changed again.
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So we give evidence of learning and have to educate parents on
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how to understand that. I don't know what was easier,
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writing the comments or now having to send these evidences
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of learning. I don't actually, I think I
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liked sending comments more because you got more out of it
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because you get actually explained to the parent what
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their kid was actually like. And I definitely had some really
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nice mentor teachers that taught me how to write things about
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students without specifically saying things about the student,
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if that makes sense. Which then taught me a lot about
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my own reports and thinking back to what how they were written
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and going, oh wow. They literally just said to my
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mum that I I talked a lot and they couldn't understand how I
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was still getting my work done when I talked so much in the
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corner. I just learned how to do 2
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things at once and I still do that now and I probably still
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talk too much. But the way that my report was
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written, it was really positive because it sort of weaved that
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in there. But they don't teach you that at
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uni. They don't teach you how to
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explicitly teach in a real world classroom where there's
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behaviour needs and interruptions and you've just
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got so much expectation on you as the teacher in the classroom
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and it's all you. I mean, it's a lot.
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You go and get your degree, you've got your qualification
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and then suddenly you're just managing all these behaviours.
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You're trying to differentiate. You've got data, you've got
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duties, you've got just 500 other expectations and you're
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just supposed to know how to do it all.
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They're like, yeah, you've graduated.
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Well done. Off you go into the world.
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Good luck to you. That's that's pretty much what
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it is like. I remember being left in my room
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all alone and just looking around going, OK, what now?
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Like no one tells you what to do when you don't know what to do.
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It's like parenting, honestly. When I had my twins, no one gave
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me a manual. I just have to figure it out.
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And sometimes I guess the best way to learn is to just dive in
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and be OK with it. Like, I don't know, I had two at
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once and I actually don't know any different.
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I had two babies. I just learned to deal with two
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babies. And then when I had friends that
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had one, I was like, oh, what do you do with the other hand?
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What, what do you do here? Oh, you could do so many things
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because now I've got a free arm. I'm not feeding two children.
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I'm only feeding 1. Like this is so easy.
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And then I have to think and go, no, it's not.
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It's not easy for them because they don't know any different.
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So it's the same for you in the classroom.
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Like just because you have 12 kids and your friend has 24, it
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still doesn't make your job any easier because you still got
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kids, but you don't know any different.
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Just let's be honest, like you don't have to do this alone.
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You do not have to do this alone.
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You have the power of people like mentors.
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And I can't stress this enough, get yourself a mentor.
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Ask the questions. There is no such thing as a
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stupid question or a dumb question in teaching.
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Find someone that you trust, someone who gets it and gets you
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and just lean on them. And if you don't have that
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person, let me be that for you. I will always be here to help
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and guide you through whatever it is you need guidance because
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you need support, especially if you're in your first one to five
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years of teaching. That was my biggest growth
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moment. Like those moments of teaching,
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I learned the most about myself, what I need to learn as a
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teacher and I learned a lot about what act like what is
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actually involved in teaching. And that's where we have that
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biggest window of where teachers are actually leaving the
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profession because they're not getting that support that they
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really require require in that first one to five years when
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we're shaping you. And it's like kids, when you
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have kids, you've got that birth to 4 range, which is where they
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have the most growth. So this is basically your early
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career development as a teacher. I mean, I know why, like we
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class early career teachers as one to three, I think, but it
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really should be 1 to 5 because that is your biggest growth
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moment in that window of time. And every school is completely
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different. Now, I have to apologise because
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if you do hear loud tractor farming noises in the
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background, as I said, this is real life.
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And I'm recording in my office, which is right next to a paddock
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and my wonderful husband must be redoing the fencing for the
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cows. So there's if there's tractor
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noises going past, I'm very sorry.
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I'm hoping that Mike doesn't pick that up.
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But now you're just picturing it in your head.
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So yeah, what university doesn't teach you about teaching is that
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you also have a life outside of teaching that you have to manage
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as well as your teaching load. So I'll just link that in there,
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but I'll go back. So every school is different and
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I'm talking from experience here because I've worked at a lot of
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schools, not specifically by choice, like not me choosing to
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leave. If you go back to my first
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episode, I talk about the fact that I had to move.
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So then you I had to move schools and situations changed
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and things like that. But it was a blessing in
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disguise because what makes the job even more complicated is
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that every school has its own system, its own expectations,
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and they all come with their own culture.
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And what works in one place, it might not work in another.
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And if you've ever only, like if you've only been in that one
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school, you might not even realise what's possible or what
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isn't normal. And that's why it's sort of
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important that you expose yourself to different school
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environments, different teaching philosophies, different
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leadership styles, all of those things.
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So if you ever get the opportunity to go and observe
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other teachers in other environments, you put your hand
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up and go because you can be exposed to all those different
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things. And if you are coming from a
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small school, you can go to a big school and have a look at
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what's happening there and what works for them.
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Because we need to know what's going on and share with each
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other. Because you never know if you
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might support someone else or if they might support you.
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And they don't teach you that in uni.
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They don't turn up and say, oh, you'll get a job here and this
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is what it's going to look like. Or you go to this school and
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this is what that's going to look like.
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You don't know that. We do try and give you
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opportunities by sending you on placements at different schools.
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And what I specifically did when I did my practise is I made sure
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I went to a really, really, really hard school that I knew
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was rough first, just one of my first ones and then I sort of
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worked my way around to easier ones.
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So I got a good picture of what it was like to work in a tough
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school, hard to staff, and what it was like to work in a small
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school, in a big school. Like just get yourself
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experience in lots of different areas and you'll get a feel for
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what's really going on. Because look, the emotional load
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of everything is real. And no one talks about the
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emotional toll of this job except me.
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If you listen to me, I'm talking about it.
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But you've got this pressure to perform.
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Like the tears that you shed when you feel like you are
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failing your students or even yourself.
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The guilt when you leave work early to go to your own kids
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soccer game or to go catch up with your friends.
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Just the internal battles when a student lashes out at you and
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you have to carry that hurt with you all day.
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It's a lot. But what if we gave ourselves
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permission to talk about it? What if we stopped pretending
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that we're supposed to have it all together all the time?
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You're allowed to not have it all together all the time, and
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I've told you that before, but they don't teach you that at
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uni. They just expect that you're
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gonna be amazing. You graduate and you're supposed
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to go and be amazing, but you are gonna learn a lot in that
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first window of time. You are going to grow and it's
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going to make or break you. I will be honest and you need to
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learn to not take things to heart and that was a big
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learning experience for me. No one taught me that at uni.
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I was told that by some mentor teachers that you've got to not
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wear your heart on your sleeve because it will just get pulled
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off, stomped all over and chucked back at you in your
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face. So you need to have a thicker
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skin and start working on that. And just remember, just because
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that student lashed out at you does not mean that they hate
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you. They're obviously got lots of
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stuff going on with them, but you're just the one who's copped
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it. And that's what I had to learn
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myself. So you're allowed to not know it
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all. You're allowed to feel
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completely and utterly overwhelmed and you are
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definitely allowed to ask for help.
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And the beauty is that you will learn, you will grow, you'll
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figure out how to manage your time, your systems and your
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sanity. But only if we drop this
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perfection and start talking about the real emotional labour
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of actually teaching and being in a classroom full time.
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So some practical tools to help with your emotional well being.
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So what you need to know right now if you are a beginning
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teacher, even if you're an experienced teacher like this
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applies to me, your emotional health as a teacher, you need to
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create yourself some boundaries. When you're off, you're off, OK,
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You're allowed to have a life. Go back to my boundaries episode
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to help you learn how to do that.
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Have regular check insurance with yourself.
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Ask yourself, how am I really doing?
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You need to track that. You need to have some self care.
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You need to decompress daily. However you do that, that works
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for you. Whether it's journaling or going
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for a walk or venting to your teacher bestie or playing music
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in your classroom after the bell.
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You need rituals, you need routine to help you decompress
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at the end of your day. And honestly, I've, I've shared
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all of mine before, but sometimes I think when I was a
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beginning teacher before I was working lots on my mindset, I
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was doing lots of stuff like watching really trashy TV shows.
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Like now it's The Secret Life of the Mormon, the Housewives or
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whatever they are. Because you just don't have to
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think and you can just switch off.
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So you can just like and take that deep breath and just melt
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into the moment. But now for me, it's more like
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just journaling to get it all out, having a bit of time to
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meditate, and then just getting on with life and setting myself
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up for family time instead. So things change, your routines
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will change, but you need to decompress daily and you need to
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celebrate your small wins. Even on your really, really hard
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days, you can find something that was a win in that day.
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I can remember one of the hardest classes I ever taught.
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It was a prep class at the time. I had a rough day every day, but
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I would always find something. There were some really beautiful
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kids in that class too, and they would just like, one would bring
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me a flower and I was like, oh, today I got given a Daisy and
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got told that I looked really pretty or that my hair looked
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nice or that they really enjoyed the story that we did or the
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dance that we were doing. Just those little things.
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And when they're doing their sounding out and someone
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actually managed to blend a word and they haven't been able to
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blend a word for a week. And I was like, yes, that's a
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win. I'll take that.
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Just celebrate those little moments.
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You need to find or build your community, whether that's online
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or at your school or with me, wherever.
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You need to get yourself some support and get yourself a
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little village to support you and, and just help you through
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and make sure you're asking those questions and have those
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check in times and all of those things.
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They're not going to tell you that at uni.
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They might tell you that, yes, you need to look after yourself
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and yes, you need to look after your emotional well being.
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But how, how do you do that? Well, you create some
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boundaries. You check in with yourself, you
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decompress, you celebrate your wins and you get yourself some
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support in a community. OK, that's what I want you to do
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and they're not going to teach you that, but I am.
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Then I want to think about these as well so you can have some
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time to actually reflect. You can come back to these at
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any time. And these are like whether
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you're a beginning again or experienced.
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But what do I wish someone had told me about teaching?
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Like when you start or when you have been teaching for a while,
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What is it that you wish someone told you about teaching?
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I wish someone had told me that it's OK if you stuff up as long
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as you recover because I stuffed up a heck of a lot and I
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probably still do, but just recover.
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Like come back from that, bounce back and get going.
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Because the kids actually don't care and they don't remember.
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You might think they do, but they actually don't.
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The activity that you do instead might be like amazing and they
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remember that instead. Where are you being too hard on
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yourself? Where are you being too hard on
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yourself? I was constantly really hard on
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myself and I really set my expectations way too high when I
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started. I pretty much pushed myself to
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burn out because I set way too high expectations.
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And I do that a lot in life. And I've had to learn to sort of
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pull back because I can succeed with a bar that I've set and I
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can smash that out of the park as long as I'm focusing on me
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first. What parts of the emotional load
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feel the heaviest on you right now, and is there anything that
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you could do to help lighten that load?
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OK, so for me, lots of my emotional load was taking on
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other people's negative energy and their negative comments.
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And so I had to learn strategies on how I don't do that and how I
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learn to remember that that toxic energy is not mine to
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carry, but I can do these things to help me.
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And if you need help with that, like go back to my episode on
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toxic energy and all of those things, and that will help
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explain that to you a bit further.
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And what do I want teaching to feel like for me?
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OK, what do you want teaching to feel like for you?
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For me, I want teaching to feel fun.
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I want to look forward to it every day like I do at the
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moment. But that's because that's my
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mindset. I turn up knowing that every day
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is going to be a new adventure and I'm going to have fun with
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it and I love what I do. So you need to picture what you
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want teaching to feel like for you because you're the one who's
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going to create that because it's your thoughts and your
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actions that's actually going to make that happen.
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OK, so some affirmations for you, just to keep you in the
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right vibe to get you up and about.
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I want you to remember these. Say them to yourself.
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Write them down if you need to so you can repeat them back.
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These are really good mirror ones to tell yourself in the
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mirror. OK, so I am doing enough.
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I am enough. I am allowed to learn as I go.
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My impact as a teacher goes beyond the data.
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I choose to release perfection and honour progress.
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I trust myself to figure it out. Those are some really important
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affirmations. I really love the one about I
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choose to release perfection and honour progress.
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Progress over perfection every single time, OK?
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Just remember that because teaching is beautiful.
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It's chaotic, it's an emotional rollercoaster.
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But while uni can prepare you with lots of theory, but the
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heart of this work is your heart.
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It is something that you strengthen day by day and year
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by year. You don't need to have it all
19:41
figured out. I don't have it all figured out,
19:43
and I've been teaching for a while now.
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You just need to stay open to growing, to feeling, and to
19:49
learning. And if no one's told you lately,
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you are still doing an incredible job, OK?
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Because as teachers, we need to still be learners and we still
19:59
need to grow. That's why we have professional
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learning. I'll do an episode on that
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another time because some of you, I know if you've been
20:05
teaching a while, you roll your eyes at professional learning.
20:07
But we do need it, OK guys. But we do make the worst
20:10
students. We pretty much mimic the worst
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students that we have in our class that drive us nuts.
20:15
And all those behaviours, they all come out in PL.
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I have seen them all. I run, I've run.
20:19
Excuse me, I've run PLS before and I have seen.
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All of those horrible habits and I'm like, gosh, you hate it when
20:25
kids do that in your classroom, so why do it to me?
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But I get it. So beginning teachers, you are
20:32
doing an incredible job and keep learning.
20:34
Experienced teachers, you keep learning too.
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But please reach out to me anytime.
20:40
Connect with me on Instagram or Facebook because I am here for
20:42
you. I am part of your community.
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My community is all here for you because you've got this.
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So until next time, stay aligned, keep thriving, and I'll
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talk soon, my teacher friends. Bye, guys.