(Season 7, Episode 2) Introverts and Extroverts - Teaching Your Way

This week, join host Hannah Williams-Inman as she speaks with middle school educators Paul Buckley and Maria Edwards about experiences teaching as an introvert/extrovert. 

• (0:00-2:35) TEAM Intro and Episode Intro - Teaching as an introvert vs extrovert, and the way that may change the vibe and feeling of our day to day life here at SA.

• (2:45-3:10) - Can you figure out, based on this conversation, who is our introvert and who is our extrovert?
• (3:20) Question 1: What is your favorite part of the school day? 
  • (3:40) Maria starts us off - she loves seeing her lessons come to life, especially when a lesson hits well in a (probably morning time) class. 
  • (4:50) We reflect on how the time of day completely changes the vibe of a class.
  • (5:30) Paul speaks about how he loves the calm moments of the day, taking a moment of peace, and maybe even a quick walk around campus.
  • (6:15) We love our outdoor campus!
• (7:00) I forgot to introduce myself! Sidebar, it doesn’t take just an introvert to LOVE their planning period - I love mine too!
• (7:50) Another sidebar - Maria remembers a conversation between the three of us before she had actually been hired. We knew she was a winner!
• (8:25) Question 2: What part of the school day consistently stresses you out? 
  • (8:35) Hannah first - needing to be super flexible stresses me out, even though our environment and schedule at SA is typically so consistent and our days operate generally as expected, we still sometimes have to adjust on the fly. Such is life as a teacher.
  • (9:50) Paul shares - he feels stressed when lesson plans go awry, and he has to change things on the fly. He also shares that on a normal, regular day, lunch can be very stressful. It can feel draining, and it’s loud!
  • (11:25) Maria shares - she agrees that it’s stressful when a lesson plan flops, and being in year one of teaching is a lot of trial and error. Maria and Hannah both struggle with the way one lesson plan gone wrong can really flip the entire week/month/quarter on its head schedule wise.
  • (12:40) There is a unique struggle when classes are only 50 minutes.
• (13:50) “Just a quick sidebar…” figuring out how to effectively plan a class period (making sure you plan enough but not too much) is kind of the art of teaching, in a nutshell.
• (15:25) Question 3: How do you feel at the end of a school day? 
  • (15:40) “Do you mean before or after my nap?” - Paul uses his after school time to rest, and restore, by enjoying some silence and taking his dog on a walk.
  • (16:35) Maria gives a lot during the school day, but she gives herself a boost with some energy drinks, so she can still be active and head to the gym after school!
  • (18:30) Boundaries! Work/life balance with our families and our own ability to recharge!
  • (18:50) What does it look like to turn off “teacher talk” at the end of the day, especially when we are with non-teachers?
  • (19:45) Hannah shares that at the end of the school day, she may be tired and more mellow, but is also kind of ready to expend a different kind of “after school” energy. 
• (20:50) The big reveal! Who is our introvert?
• (21:45) We are so clued into the way our kids are each day; do we have the same amount of awareness for ourselves? Do we keep a finger on our own pulses as well?