Kids Are Watching: Modeling the Kind of Grown-Up You Want Them to Become
The essence of this podcast episode centers on the profound notion that children are not merely recipients of verbal instruction; rather, they are keen observers of our actions and behaviors. As educators, we must recognize that every interaction and response within the classroom serves as a vital leadership opportunity, wherein we model the attributes we wish to instill in our students. It is imperative that we demonstrate qualities such as calmness, joy, and resilience, particularly in the face of challenges and disorder. By embodying these traits, we not only instruct our students on academic matters but also impart essential life lessons regarding emotional regulation and interpersonal interactions. Ultimately, our conduct serves as a template for the kind of adults we aspire for our students to become.
In this compelling episode, Mr. Funky Teacher, Nicholas Kleve, articulates a fundamental truth about education: children are perpetually watching and learning from the behaviors exhibited by their teachers. The overarching premise of the podcast centers on the concept of teacher modeling, which asserts that educators must exemplify the traits they wish to instill in their students, such as respect, responsibility, and resilience. By navigating through various scenarios and personal anecdotes, Mr. Kleve elucidates the importance of being an unwavering source of calm, joy, and grit amidst the often chaotic environment of the classroom.
The discussion further explores the profound implications of emotional regulation, demonstrating that how teachers manage their responses in stressful situations serves as a direct lesson for students. By modeling appropriate behaviors, we not only guide students in their social interactions but also equip them with the skills necessary to face the complexities of life with confidence and composure. Additionally, the conversation highlights the necessity of cultivating a growth mindset, where educators openly discuss their challenges and celebrate small victories, thereby nurturing an atmosphere of curiosity and perseverance. Through these insights, Mr. Kleve inspires teachers to reflect on their daily practices and continuously strive to be the role models their students deserve.
Takeaways:
- Students are not merely passive recipients of instruction; they are observant learners who emulate our behaviors and reactions.
- Every interaction within the classroom serves as a potential lesson, either spoken or unspoken, shaping students' understanding of respect and responsibility.
- In moments of chaos, we must embody calmness and resilience, demonstrating to students that emotional regulation is an attainable skill.
- The modeling of joy, curiosity, and grit is essential; we must not only discuss these concepts but actively demonstrate them in our daily interactions with students.
- It is imperative to engage in reflective practices, openly admitting to and discussing our missteps in front of students to foster a growth mindset.
- As educators, we are tasked with being the exemplars of the values we wish to instill in our students, guiding them towards becoming respectful and resilient adults.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Be a Funky Teacher
Transcript
Yeah, he's Mr. Funky.
Speaker A:He's Mr. Funky Teacher.
Speaker A:Mr. Funky Teacher inspires greatness, makes you feel good.
Speaker A:Like your favorite playlist.
Speaker A:Keeping that fresh and funky.
Speaker A:Yes, he does.
Speaker A:He got some funky cool ideas to share for all you teachers.
Speaker A:He can empower others, students and teachers.
Speaker A:It's all about hard work and creativity.
Speaker A:He brings out the kindness in everyone.
Speaker A:He's got the passion to teach.
Speaker A:You hear it when he speaks.
Speaker A:He knows how to build strong relationships.
Speaker A:If you're seeking the best bunkiest, he is it.
Speaker A:He will empower you to improve.
Speaker A:You'll be helping others and loving it too.
Speaker A:He's Mr. Funky Teacher.
Speaker A:Yeah, he's Mr. Funky Teacher.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:This is Mr. Funky Teacher with Be a Funky Teacher dot com.
Speaker B:I'm coming to you with another Be a Funky Teacher podcast.
Speaker B:Welcome back, everyone.
Speaker B:So excited to have all of you here with me today.
Speaker B:Today's episode is focusing on Kids are watching.
Speaker B:Modeling the kind of grownups you want them to become.
Speaker B:That's what we're going to be focusing on.
Speaker B:But before we get into it, let's talk about the three things I'm thankful for.
Speaker B:First thing I'm thankful for is calm, beautiful evenings.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:Last night I was out watching my son, my youngest son play football and it was such a beautiful night.
Speaker B:It was just a peaceful and grounding evening.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:You didn't even need a jacket.
Speaker B:It just was.
Speaker B:But it wasn't.
Speaker B:You weren't sweating either.
Speaker B:It was just perfect out.
Speaker B:It was very calm, very beautiful.
Speaker B:I was so thankful to be out there watching my son just being in the moment.
Speaker B:Second thing, micro breaks, those little three to five minute moments to sometimes just take a breath or to reset so you can come back stronger.
Speaker B:Those can be very valuable.
Speaker B:Those can be very helpful.
Speaker B:I encourage you to, if you have an opportunity where you can snag a micro break from time to time.
Speaker B:That's something that's important to do.
Speaker B:Especially if you, if you're feeling overwhelmed or you're feeling like you're dealing with some tough behavior.
Speaker B:Sometimes a micro.
Speaker B:Or you can maybe even have a paraprofessional or administrator or someone else cover your classroom.
Speaker B:Those micro breaks can be just what is needed Sometimes if you're in a school setting or if you're busy at home and you need to step away for a moment, a micro break can be just what is needed as well.
Speaker B:A micro break just to kind of give yourself kind of a breather or, or like a mental break, a physical break.
Speaker B:Sometimes, just sometimes you just need to take a moment, right?
Speaker B:And so micro breaks.
Speaker B:I love them.
Speaker B:You don't want to overdo them, but sometimes you need to take them.
Speaker B:You just need that pause.
Speaker B:Third thing, my voice is coming back.
Speaker B:I'm thankful that my voice is coming back.
Speaker B:Seems like for the last week here, my voice has not been the strongest.
Speaker B:It.
Speaker B:It still feels like it's a little bit squeaky, but yet I know it's coming back.
Speaker B:I feel like it's stronger.
Speaker B:I feel like I'm not straining as much to talk.
Speaker B:I still don't think it's a hundred percent, but I'm not straining as much.
Speaker B:And I'm.
Speaker B:I am thankful for that, that I.
Speaker B:It's starting to come back and not be as much of a struggle to.
Speaker B:To use my voice.
Speaker B:All right, so now let's get into the topic.
Speaker B:Kids are watching, modeling the kind of grown ups you want them to be.
Speaker B:Think about it.
Speaker B:How.
Speaker B:What type of grownups do we want our students to be?
Speaker B:Well, we need a model of that.
Speaker B:And, and first and foremost, one big idea is that kids don't just listen, they watch.
Speaker B:Our students may not always follow our instructions.
Speaker B:We know that, right?
Speaker B:Like we can.
Speaker B:We can talk to her right in the face, trying to give instruction sometimes.
Speaker B:And they.
Speaker B:Students will sometimes pick up on that, sometimes they won't.
Speaker B:But they are certainly watching.
Speaker B:They're watching our behaviors.
Speaker B:They see how do we react when something goes wrong.
Speaker B:They watch when we talk to students who are struggling.
Speaker B:They see and watch how we interact with other staff.
Speaker B:Think about that.
Speaker B:So I'll say those again.
Speaker B:They're watching how we interact with other staff.
Speaker B:They're looking at how we deal with students who are struggling.
Speaker B:And they.
Speaker B:If something goes wrong in the classroom, they are watching.
Speaker B:Every moment in the classroom is a lesson, whether that's a spoken lesson or unspoken lesson.
Speaker B:Every moment is a lesson to teach our students about.
Speaker B:If we want students to grow up to be respectful, responsible, and resilient, we have to model what we want that to look like for them.
Speaker B:Because they're not just following our instruction.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:They're.
Speaker B:They're watching how we conduct ourselves.
Speaker B:And so I, I would challenge you.
Speaker B:Are you modeling those traits every day?
Speaker B:The traits of being respectful, responsible and resilient?
Speaker B:And how we, how we talk to our students, how we talk to our fellow staff, how we.
Speaker B:How we respond when.
Speaker B:When things don't go according to plan.
Speaker B:So model modeling those traits are so important every single day.
Speaker B:The next big thing, y', all, is to be the calm in the chaos.
Speaker B:Write that down.
Speaker B:It's going to be in a test.
Speaker B:Be the calm in the cast.
Speaker B:I should.
Speaker B:I should have that on a shirt.
Speaker B:Be the calm in the chaos.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It.
Speaker B:I mean, if we're.
Speaker B:If there's chaos going on and we just fall apart or we add to the chaos, I mean, think about what that models to students.
Speaker B:Think about what type of energy that gives off to the students that we're entrusted to teach.
Speaker B:Classrooms get loud, schedules get flipped, behaviors get wiped.
Speaker B:Wild.
Speaker B:True or true.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:I mean, th.
Speaker B:Those things are all true.
Speaker B:And so when.
Speaker B:When there is chaos going on, how do we respond?
Speaker B:We need to be that anchor in our classroom when we stay calm in a storm.
Speaker B:We're teaching students multiple things, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:We are.
Speaker B:We are teaching them about what self regulation looks like.
Speaker B:We're teaching students that emotions are manageable.
Speaker B:We want to teach them, hey, you can manage those emotions, and you don't need to fall apart.
Speaker B:And we're also teaching students that, hey, that safety, it starts with presence, not perfection.
Speaker B:See, when we're that calm in the chaos, it doesn't have to be perfect.
Speaker B:The moments don't have to be perfect and.
Speaker B:And flawless, because they're not.
Speaker B:Because school days are messy sometimes.
Speaker B:I mean, you can have a great system, a great procedure, a great system in place, and it's still not there.
Speaker B:There's still going to be not.
Speaker B:It can definitely help, and those are important, but there's going to be schedules that get flipped.
Speaker B:Kids don't come to school, or our behaviors are great and wild, or classrooms are getting loud.
Speaker B:And so you.
Speaker B:You can try to kind of.
Speaker B:You can kind of mitigate and manage all of those things, but you're still going to face some challenges.
Speaker B:And being that calm in the chaos is going to be just what is needed to help students see that, hey, you're the anchor in the room.
Speaker B:And to get them to see that they can be an anchor, too, as they grow up into adulthood, they can be that anchor in their own life that they don't.
Speaker B:The anchor in a storm that's not going to get blown away or just this go.
Speaker B:Go to pieces.
Speaker B:We never want to.
Speaker B:Want to have it where students see us falling apart or going pieces or getting blown away in this.
Speaker B:In this.
Speaker B:In this storm of life in our classrooms.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:We are not.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:I'm just.
Speaker B:Even if we're feeling frustrated, we have to take a breath.
Speaker B:We have to show a pause.
Speaker B:We have to show them that, hey, we can control ourselves.
Speaker B:We can be that anchor.
Speaker B:You're not just managing behaviors, you're modeling resilience to students.
Speaker B:You're modeling resilience.
Speaker B:And how important is, how important is that?
Speaker B:I think it's critically important.
Speaker B:Our nervous system, how we, our nervous system and then how we handle things, it helps us to regulate students nervous system and how they respond and, and conduct themselves.
Speaker B:And so be the calm in the chaos.
Speaker B:I have seen teachers who are not the calm in the chaos.
Speaker B:I've seen students get or I've seen teachers get really worked up and kind of fall apart in front of students or get really worked up or almost escalate things themselves.
Speaker B:And the thing is, that's not serving students.
Speaker B:That's not modeling what we want students to be able to do as adults themselves.
Speaker B:So be the calm in the chaos.
Speaker B:And the third thing, big idea that I want to talk about is to model joy, curiosity and grit.
Speaker B:Model those things to students, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:It's easy to teach growth mindset.
Speaker B:I'm gonna say that again.
Speaker B:It's easy to teach growth mindset, but are you showing growth mindset?
Speaker B:We can stand up there and we can say, oh, talk about growth mindset.
Speaker B:But if you're not living it, if you're not showing it, then that, what does that say to students?
Speaker B:We need to let students see curiosity, joy, grit.
Speaker B:We need to let them see that.
Speaker B:Hey, when we try something new, admitting to them, hey, it's hard or celebrate small wins.
Speaker B:Asking them curious, asking curious questions about, about things and then, hey, laughing at ourselves when things go sideways.
Speaker B:I do, I do this, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:I try to do this a lot with students.
Speaker B:One of the things that I love to do is, is I love challenging myself with outdoor adventure.
Speaker B:I, I really am trying to push myself to be a skilled river stand up paddler and a skilled river surfer in whitewater.
Speaker B:I have to admit though, it's hard.
Speaker B:It's hard.
Speaker B:I'm a skilled paddler and it's still hard.
Speaker B:I still find challenges in river surfing where other people are more advanced than me and, and I get knocked down or, or I had a hard time getting up on a wave and I, and I talk to students about it.
Speaker B:I'll talk to students and I, I'll tell them, hey, I was out river surfing and, and I'll, and I'll say this was a brand new wave that I was on.
Speaker B:And I'll tell them about the, the challenge I face.
Speaker B:And I'll admit it was hard.
Speaker B:May.
Speaker B:And, and sometimes I've told them, hey, you know What, I got up on it for 30 seconds.
Speaker B:And sometimes I'll show them videos of me being up on the wave, and I'll say, you know, I'll talk to them about, hey, I wonder what I was doing wrong.
Speaker B:Or I wonder if I move my foot on the, on the, on the river surfboard in this spot.
Speaker B:I wonder if I would have been able to stay longer.
Speaker B:So that's where I'm asking curious questions.
Speaker B:And then I laugh.
Speaker B:Students continue to kind of get wiped out in the board sometimes, and I have a good laugh, and students laugh with me.
Speaker B:We're not laughing at people, but we're laughing together.
Speaker B:And, and I say, you know, it didn't go according to plan.
Speaker B:There's been also some outdoor adventures where I've been.
Speaker B:There was a bike ride that a century day that I could not finish.
Speaker B:I've talked to my fifth graders about that, about, hey, I kind of hit the wall around mile 70.
Speaker B:I couldn't finish.
Speaker B:I celebrated what I was able to do that day.
Speaker B:I, I talked about, hey, what could have I done differently?
Speaker B:I asked some questions, some curious questions.
Speaker B:And then, you know, I had a good laugh saying, you know what?
Speaker B:Hey, you know, it's, it's, it's, you know, because the time that I'm thinking of is I started puking, and I couldn't stop puking on this bike ride.
Speaker B:And, you know, I, I had a good laugh with students because I, I, I talked about, hey, I was super hungry for some pizza once.
Speaker B:I got, Once I was actually, I, I took a SAG vehicle in, and I was super hungry by the time I got in because I had puked up all my food for the day.
Speaker B:So, you know, we can laugh at, at ourselves, too.
Speaker B:And so I kind of go through some of that, that modeling joy, curiosity and grit and, and, and admit, hey, you know, just because I might fail doesn't mean it doesn't make me a failure.
Speaker B:And that's so important to have those conversations with students because they can apply that to them to their own selves, to their own situations, to their own failures that they might face in school or if they're encountering a challenge in their family life or in their own personal lives, that, that, hey, it doesn't make them a failure that they can still have joy.
Speaker B:They can still live with curiosity and grit and get through hard things that they can do hard things.
Speaker B:I've, I, one thing that kind of pops up sometimes where I, I love technology in my classroom, but, you know, technology is sometimes going to do what technology is going to do in terms of having challenges or issues with it being buggy or not working, especially if you're putting some technology together and trying to get it to work.
Speaker B:And you know, and I've had lessons that I was like, I couldn't finish the lesson because I was relying on certain technology or I had to modify it on the spot.
Speaker B:And it's important for me to stay calm in that chaos.
Speaker B:It's important for me to model, hey, you know, kind of, hey, keep kind of a joyful spirit and, and ask maybe some questions about, I wonder what's going on here, why this isn't connecting.
Speaker B:I bet it's a setting of some sort.
Speaker B:I'll have to look at that after, after school here and get it working again and then just, hey, have that grip mentality that, hey, it's okay that something didn't go according to plan.
Speaker B:Gonna tweak, gonna pivot, gonna shift in a spot and keep pushing forward instead of getting flustered.
Speaker B:I've gotten flustered before in front of students around technology not working.
Speaker B:And, you know, after school I'll reflect and say, you know what?
Speaker B:That was a missed opportunity for me as an educator.
Speaker B:And so I really try to, if something doesn't go according to plan, I try to model what I want for them.
Speaker B:Like, I want to try to model how I would like them to respond in their lives if they're dealing with, with something tough or something that doesn't go according to plan.
Speaker B:That's so important because there are.
Speaker B:Life is not flawless.
Speaker B:We're going to face mess, the messiness of life, Right?
Speaker B:And as educators, we have to look for those teachable moments in real time, things that we can't plan out in lesson plans.
Speaker B:I mean, you can have the most perfect lesson in the world that you spend hours on, and life is going to do what life is going to do.
Speaker B:And we have to look for those teachable moments in how we respond to it.
Speaker B:And, and if we don't respond to it in a way that, that is a teachable moment, or if it's a teachable moment of what not to do.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:We have to take those opportunities, though, and say, like, and that's where it comes into reflecting on what we do and saying, hey, that didn't go so well.
Speaker B:I've admitted, after lessons, the next day, if I, if a student has seen me flustered about, about something, about a lesson that didn't go very planned, I'll tell them.
Speaker B:And I say, hey, you know what?
Speaker B:I was upset with how I handled that because I got upset that this part of the technology in this lesson didn't go great.
Speaker B:And I this is how I should have responded instead.
Speaker B:So I try to model reflection to my students, too.
Speaker B:And that that introspection I try to teach my students about, too.
Speaker B:Those are opportunities for learning that I want to stress to you that.
Speaker B:That are great opportunities to come back on.
Speaker B:If something didn't go according to plan and you didn't handle it, come back and talk to students about it.
Speaker B:Take that time to talk through things with students.
Speaker B:It'll blow their minds, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:So I want to remind you some takeaways your kids are watching.
Speaker B:You are their model.
Speaker B:Not just for math or reading, but for how to do life.
Speaker B:Show them that grownups can stay calm, that they can keep trying, that joy matters, that mistakes aren't the end.
Speaker B:They're part of the path.
Speaker B:They're part of the journey.
Speaker B:Lead by example.
Speaker B:Live what you want them to learn.
Speaker B:And keep being that funky teacher they'll never forget.
Speaker B:Well, that brings our episode to an end.
Speaker B:Funky teachers remember to inspire greatness in young people.
Speaker B:And don't forget to be a funky teacher.
Speaker B:Bye now.
Speaker A:He's Mr. Funky Teacher yeah he's Mr. Funky Teacher yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Damage.
