Latest / Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast / Conversations from ISTE Live with Brittany Blackwell

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Conversations from ISTE Live with Brittany Blackwell · Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast

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  Hey, welcome to the Integrate This EdTech podcast.
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  I'm David Berner and I am joined by Brittany
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  Blackwell, host of the Resilient Teacher podcast.
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  And we're super happy to have you here. You've
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  been running around the conference like we have.
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  And so it's nice to have someone here we can
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  relate to a little bit. It's been fast and furious,
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  I feel like, the last two days. What has your
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  experience been like here since you got in? I've
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  been to ISTE. This is my third year coming to
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  ISTE and I... I love it. I mean, it is, they're
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  so, it's so fast paced, but it's a lot of connections
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  and a lot of meeting new people and connecting
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  with old people. And I think that's the biggest
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  part about ISTE is like the connection component.
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  And yeah, just a big fan of ISTE. Okay. And so
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  you said three years. Yeah. Three for me, too.
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  Jeremy's on like six, I think, or something,
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  so he's doubled up. But as you've gone around,
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  like I've been following your TikTok, and so
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  make sure you follow Brittany's TikTok as well.
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  But what kind of things have stood out to you
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  as you've gone around and now you've gone to
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  like some demonstration type things? What have
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  you seen so far? Yeah, so one of the first...
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  One of the demonstrations that I went to was
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  the Code AI. They were formerly Code .org and
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  now they're Code AI. And they had this experience
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  space where you kind of go in and it starts with
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  something very human, which I really liked. It
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  asked like who was the student that changed it
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  all. And I think that really is just a really
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  cool component of something that says AI, because
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  it's bringing us back to the human part of teaching.
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  And so it asked us that question. And then after
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  that, it kind of asked us a few questions about
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  how we would do different things within our classrooms
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  to find our digital literacy archetype. No surprise,
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  I got the maker, which was kind of cool. But
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  it was just a really cool experience because
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  it made me think about how I feel about AI in
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  the classroom and how students use AI. So that
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  was one really, really cool exhibit that I went
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  to. Okay. And that's a huge topic of conversation
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  right now, right, is like how teachers are using
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  AI, how students are using AI. Is the use effective?
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  Is it tied to... Sound pedagogy. Yeah, are we
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  just using technology for technology sake? There's
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  a lot of those conversations going on right now
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  And so as we look at the the teachers ton of
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  teachers here and thinking about teachers back
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  at districts You know like we're from or any
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  of the states What what type of things are you
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  seeing? You know referring to your the resilient
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  teacher podcast. Yeah, you focus specifically
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  on teacher burnout Okay, so take us through that
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  first. Like what do you how do you normally set
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  that up and? think about any topic that you bring
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  to the podcast. I actually have on my website
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  a quiz that teachers can take to actually determine,
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  like, what do they need to do? What's their roadmap
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  to burnout recovery? Because each individual
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  person is different, right? Like, you have...
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  I was a special educator, so I think of everything
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  as, like, individualized. But there are, like,
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  four main paths that you can go down. And typically,
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  what I've been seeing is, like... a lot of teachers
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  go down the systemized path. Like, they just
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  need systems, they need routines, they need ways
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  to make it their own, and they're often using
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  different people's idea of what's the right thing
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  to do. And so, like, when I think about AI, I
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  think about that as part of systemization, systemization
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  and automation, right? And so, teachers can really
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  consider what What's the thing that they love
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  about teaching? And we don't want to systemize
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  that. We don't want to delegate that. We want
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  to continue doing that because that's what brings
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  us joy, right? But the things that we hate, everybody
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  has something that they hate doing as a teacher.
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  For me, it was attendance. I hate attendance.
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  I'm never going to remember to do attendance.
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  And so I might automate that. Like how could
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  I automate that? Simple, like just creating an
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  alarm that tells me I need to... take my attendance
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  and then I take the attendance. But something
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  as simple as that is so profound and it's like
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  one less thing that you have to think about.
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  Teachers are so burned out by decision fatigue.
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  Like every day you're making tons and tons of
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  decisions and so you think about like when you're
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  in the classroom and a student comes up to you
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  asks you a question. And you have to think and
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  decide in that moment, how do you react? There
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  are so many things that they do. And so to remove
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  some of those decisions and automate those or
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  systemize those can relieve a lot of burnout
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  for teachers. So that's just one component of
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  like why teachers can burn out and the way that
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  I kind of think about that. Has there has there
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  been anything that you've seen or talked about
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  on podcasts like Jeremy and I are both tech integration
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  specialists, right? And we so we working with
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  schools Helping them helping teachers understand
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  Whether it's through professional development
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  training or like tutorial videos that kind of
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  thing How can someone in our position like a
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  support position? How how can we help? teachers
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  From that burnout, right? Kind of take some of
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  the things off their plate to help them out Yeah,
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  so like with technology, I think again that if
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  we're just thinking about decision fatigue, right?
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  think about how many Technology things that they
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  have to learn and know and use each day There
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  are just so many if you think about like attendance
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  may be tracked in one app and then you've got
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  your grades in another app. You've got your curriculum
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  in another app. And so it becomes so many things
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  that it's like, where do you go and how do you
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  do it? And it feels a little bit overwhelming.
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  And so anything that can become like, I hate
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  this term, but like a one stop shop or a hub
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  or a place that they can just do one thing really
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  well. That, I think, would reduce a lot of the
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  decision fatigue, a lot of the even technology
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  burnout, because I think sometimes teachers,
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  they know that the technology is there, but it's
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  just another step to get to it, that it becomes,
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  okay, well, I'll just do something that I already
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  know how to do, because right now I'm overwhelmed.
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  I can't really think of that. I think at the
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  beginning of the year, too, is like a really
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  great time to I guess, show the flashy thing
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  that you want teachers to adopt, because if you
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  introduce something in the middle of the year,
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  their brains are already, they're at capacity.
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  And so I think those are the two main things
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  that I would say. can help technology integration.
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  So yeah, and you mentioned like systems and the
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  where they kind of they should stay where they
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  are helpful. Do you think that you brought this
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  up? Like even even just thinking about it as
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  you're talking about it, you know, all the different
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  systems that like from a tool perspective, so
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  your SIS, right? Your your learning management
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  system, all these things like even just like
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  signing into those. Yeah, navigating the different
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  platforms. Like those are all things that some
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  of us might think of as like, you know, second
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  nature for you're really good with technology.
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  But for some people might be more cumbersome,
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  like, OK, I've got to move from this to another
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  one and keep like my like keep processing all
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  this stuff. Right. Do you feel like we focus
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  too much on having those for the sake of like
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  simplicity, but they might actually bog down
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  teachers a little bit? Of having different. Yeah,
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  like having all those different systems where
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  they've got to... So because they have to manage
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  all of those, do you think that that creates
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  a hindrance to like their ability to think clearly
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  or work with kids closely? I think it could.
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  Like I mentioned earlier, every teacher, every
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  student obviously is very... are different individuals.
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  And so, like, what might work for me, like, as
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  far as, like, having one place where everything
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  is single sign -on, for instance, is just, like,
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  super helpful. For other teachers, it really
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  might be that they compartmentalize in that way,
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  where they are like, okay, this tool does this
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  one specific thing, and I only need to know this.
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  That might help teachers who are... not really
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  good at technology. Maybe that is supportive
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  of them. But I would think for me personally,
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  it would support me to have different features
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  within one tool to be able to do. Yes, like the
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  one -stop shop. So then you can go in there and
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  like, I can do all my things here. Yes. And that
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  takes a little bit of sense of. having to manage
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  all that off of their plate. Yeah, and I think
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  that like the management part of it too is like
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  you only have to know this one platform and so
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  the Interface is going to be more than likely
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  the same like as you go into different apps and
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  different things like that You don't realize
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  it but each app it might have a waffle or it
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  might have a hamburger. And like the idea between
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  where is the waffle? Oh, it doesn't have a waffle,
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  it has a hamburger, you know, for like just knowing
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  where certain features live within an app. Like
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  I'm thinking about like this, I had two different
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  curricula that I had to use that our district
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  purchased and I had to go onto the platform.
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  And they looked completely different like where
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  where was the you know, where were the the Worksheets
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  or where was where were the assessments? They
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  didn't they weren't the same on each platform
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  And so I think for some teachers that could be
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  overwhelming I'm thinking like special educators
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  and those who have to go into different things
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  like that So yeah, I think that I think it could
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  be okay. So and then like thinking about your
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  your podcast And just your work in general the
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  things that you're doing and around teacher resilience
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  burnout is there like a certain number of tips
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  or things you're like these are things that I
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  could give you as a teacher like today and this
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  would help you immensely like just think of these
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  three things or One thing whatever you want to
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  however many numbers you want to do. Yeah, you
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  can do yeah so I think the number one thing that
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  I tell any teacher who's burned out is to really
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  look at the things that are giving you energy
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  and the things that are taking your energy. There
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  are always going to be things, whether you love
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  them or not. You may love teaching, but you can
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  still become burned out. And that's because you
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  are having more energy taken than the energy
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  you're putting in. So for some people, the things
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  that bring them energy are creating resources.
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  That is not me. Do not. give me creating resources,
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  but for some people it does. And so putting everything
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  into a bubble and then writing those things down.
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  What are the tasks that you have to do as a teacher
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  every day? And then draw an arrow out for those
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  that are taking your energy and draw an arrow
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  in for those that are giving you energy and then
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  look at those. Like how many items are there
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  on that? That's a lot of items and more than
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  likely you have more energy going out than energy
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  going in. How can you add more of the energy
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  in so that it is a little bit more balanced?
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  More than likely, and I tell this to people all
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  the time, you're not going to have an equal flow.
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  It's just, it's not realistic to think you're
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  gonna have work -life balance. It's more like
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  work -life alignment. How many of those things
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  can you get that are coming into you so that
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  you're able to give that out? Yeah, and I think
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  even just as you're as you're talking about that
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  even that exercise of doing that is super helpful
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  because you probably don't really realize like
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  you might have a massive imbalance like as I
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  said, you have a bunch of arrows going out. Yeah,
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  and you don't even realize how many arrows are
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  going out and you look at those that are coming
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  in. It's like, you know, it's like and teachers
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  are the most like are so like in service of students
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  that they will continue to give and to give and
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  to give and so. their principal may ask them,
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  hey, can you run this club? Or hey, can you do
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  this other thing? And it's taking a lot of energy
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  out that they're not even recognizing is impacting
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  how they're showing up in the classroom. And
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  so sometimes... it's important to see, OK, that
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  is something that's taking my energy away. And
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  I might need to step away from that because that's
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  impacting how I show up in my classroom and how
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  I'm serving my students. And that's the thing
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  that really gives me energy. And so just to be
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  aware of those things is just a huge, a huge
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  component of your first step to burnout recovery.
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  Yeah. And we just to connect this, we had a guest
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  on earlier to Thomas Riddle, who said something
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  that he was like, if you can't do that well,
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  if you're not also taking care of yourself, right?
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  So if you have that massive imbalance, it's going
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  to actually impact your teaching even though
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  that might not be your, you know, you're not
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  intending to have that happen. It just naturally
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  is going to happen because of the output that
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  you're giving, right? Because you are putting
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  students first, but it might not work out so
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  well if you don't take care of yourself first,
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  right? Absolutely. So one last question for you
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  here. How can people see your work reach you?
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  Anything that you have that's coming up that
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  you want to plug and just talk about, like people
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  should check out socials, all those things. Yeah.
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  So I am on social media. I'm teaching my body
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  and soul on Instagram and at Miss Princess Teach
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  on TikTok. I never changed my name on TikTok.
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  And so eventually I will. I will change that
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  and it will just be my name. That will be much
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  easier to find. But I have a website that's probably
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  the best and easiest place because it will never
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  change, teachingmindbodyandsoul .com. And the
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  podcast is on there. I also stream on all major
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  podcasting platforms, the Resilient Teacher Podcast.
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  And yeah. That's pretty much where you can find
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  me. If you are a burned out teacher, there's
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  hope. You don't have to hate teaching anymore.
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  You can live your best life inside and outside
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  of the classroom. And so the best way to take
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  that first step is to do that exercise we talked
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  about just a few minutes ago. Or you can go to
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  teachingmindbodyandsoul .com slash quiz and you
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  can find your unique roadmap to burnout recovery.
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  Awesome and we'll make sure we link everything
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  in the show notes so you can click on those and
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  check those out So Brittany, thanks for joining
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  us. We appreciate it. Yeah, check out the integrate
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  this podcast on all platforms and on YouTube