The conference is over. You've gotten so much inspiration. But how do you keep that momentum going without slipping back into your normal day today before you went to the conference, I got some great ideas to help keep you on that high of the momentum and make a significant impact in the lives of your learners.

In this podcast episode:

• Introduction

• Ideas you can do

  1. Writing down ideas

  2. Situations, options, and solutions

  3. Lesson planning

• Outro

Transcript of the Episode:

Introduction

Welcome back to the podcast, the symposium is over, we had an amazing time. Hopefully, if you were there, you have gotten some fantastic ideas. But that's just the beginning. So now what we've all had those experiences where we go to conference, we leave basically high on life. We've connected with so many new people. And we've had a great time learning and diving into the thing that we love so much. And we've become almost better teachers. And I say almost, because just because you have new knowledge in your head does not mean that you're a better teacher, you actually have to go out and teach it.

If you want your learners to increase their independence without you burning out then now is the time to shoot for the moon. Why? Why now? Because now is when you have more ideas than you initially have time to dive into. Sometimes I can make us feel really bogged down or overwhelmed, like we've eaten too much at a buffet and need time to digest it. But remember, you don't have to take every last bite at this exact moment.

Your brains may be full to the brim with ideas and not enough time to do them all. And in that case, it's a good thing. Instead of looking at it like you ate a full buffet and you're too stuffed, think of it more like you packed your pantry. The ideas will be there for you to chew on when you need them. They don't go bad and you can pull them out and use them as you need them. But if you don't do anything, because you feel so overwhelmed, or because you aren't sure that what you're going to be teaching is the right way to do it, then it's like shutting the door to the pantry and starving yourself. That's not good. That's super not good.

By following the ideas that I'm about to share, you'll be able to continue to have the momentum that feels so good right now, all year long. And I want you to come back to this podcast episode whenever you're feeling stuck or whenever you're feeling like I don't know what to do, or I don't know what my next move is. Because these steps that we go through today that are also in your symposium workbook, they're going to help you to get unstuck at any point in time of the year. So save this podcast if you can, and come back to it.

If you're in a place where you can take notes, I urge you to take notes as well. You can also go to allied independence online.com and then click on the button where we have the podcast. And you'll be able to see these if you're a visual learner or you need it to be read on a screen reader. And you can literally just copy paste them. I mean, I'm not gonna tell. But if we can give you a cheat code, or we're gonna give you the cheat code.

So with anything, your brain is going to need multiple repetitions of this information in order for it to stick and that is okay. As you're driving or you're on a walk. I hope it's beautiful out wherever you are right now, or you're doing the dishes or whatever is going on for you, as you listen to this podcast. Know that it's okay, if you feel like you need to come back to this information at another time. I like to just take out the Notes app on my phone when I'm listening to a podcast if I'm doing something that doesn't require both hands, so like no driving friends. But if you can't just go to the website, copy paste, put it on the Notes app or wherever you keep your notes for things to return to later. Because who doesn't love the feeling of momentum and excitement and inspiration all year long?

Okay, so I can't promise that you're going to feel inspired the last week of school if you're in the schools, because that just doesn't always happen. Or maybe even right before, after spring break really, really like, scientifically our brains do weird things are right before we're going to have a break. And scientifically, the studies have shown that it doesn't matter how long we go between breaks, as long as we know a break is coming, we wanted even more. And we're less motivated to do what we need to do. It's like no matter how long of a time you've been working, it's a fun thing that our brains do. So during those times, it's probably pretty normal that you don't feel that momentum. And that's all right. But other times of the year, we want to make a significant impact. And that's what we're here to do. So let's dive into it.

Now, you know, I already mentioned that at the symposium, you got a workbook. It's a Word document, where I share how I like to take notes at conferences. Because I like things tangible. I'm not so much into the conference presentations, where it's like this idea of something that could come about one day, maybe I want to know what the presenter is doing right now how they're teaching this thing, right now. And at this past symposium, we had some amazing presentations that were like that, where we got to take away actual tangible, real things that we can do in this exact moment. And we had a lot that may not be able to do anything with right now. But at some point, we might need to go back into that pantry and say, You know what, my learner needs this. So I'm going to go ahead and grab that information that I had stored here for a while.

Ideas you can do:

1. Writing down ideas

So here's what I do. First, I'm going to write down my ideas. Now, when you go to conference, one of the big things that people think, which feels kind of silly when you think about it, but it's very real for many of us is that if we don't walk away with like 10 million new ideas, it wasn't a good use of time. I'm going to say if you walk away with one great idea that can change the trajectory of your teaching. I've been to a few conferences, where I had one new idea. And I can tell you that it changed how I teach how I look at things. And that ripple effect has been passed down in multiple conversations that I've had with you guys. So that one idea, even though I sat there for three days, has changed so many lives. So if you can come up with a one great idea, your goal, if you can come up with three, ah, even better.

2. Situations, options, solutions

So what you're going to do is write down those ideas on a piece of paper. And then under that, for each idea, I want you to think about what obstacles might come up. Now, if you live in a world where you don't face obstacles, I want you to get up with me. DM me. Send me an email, and tell me how you do this. Because it's not the experience of me or anybody else that I know. We all have obstacles that we face. And the key here is to be prepared for them. Because they're going to come up. So what obstacles are going to come up for you when you go to teach these ideas? Then you're going to come up with solutions for those obstacles. Have you ever done this situation, options, solution practice with kids, it's called SOS.

Okay, so we often do this. Afterwards, we think about the situation that happened, our options of how we could have handled it and then better solution. But if we can do that ahead of time, then when those obstacles come up, we are better able to handle them. And if a different obstacle comes up, we are better able to handle that. Because then all it is is generalising our own thoughts and our own skills instead of having to think fully in the moment. Think about it. If you have a solution for one obstacle, and then a sister obstacle comes up or even a cousin of that obstacle comes up. You're going to be better prepared to overcome that actual obstacle that actually rise then if you hadn't

So now you're feeling pretty prepared for all the things that could go wrong. Let's think about all the things that could go right. And in that, I want you to look at your schedule in advance. And I want you to take a full lesson planning time, whatever your planning period is, I want you to schedule a full one, per idea. Because one of the things that's bound to come up, is someone's going to interrupt you, or you're gonna have an IEP meeting, or you're gonna have to answer emails, or maybe maybe a need to eat your lunch, something else is going to come eat into that time. So don't schedule a bunch of things in their schedule that one. And if you're not taking the time to lesson plan in advance, gentle reminder that you can't make the best impact in the lives of your learners if you're not lesson planning.

3. Lesson Planning

Now, I know you've been doing this for a while. I know lesson planning is tedious. I know. And we'll get into it later, probably in other podcasts or if you follow me on social about the power of lesson planning, and how it really changed my life. My internship supervisor is hopefully, so happy with me right now that I'm sharing this, but I lesson plan for every single lesson. And when I was teaching, I wanted to say a nine to five, full time teaching job, I would lesson plan all of my lessons for the next week, before I left on Friday, just setting up that habit was probably one of the best things that I had ever done. Because think about it, have you seen a burnt out teacher and how they act, they have to cheat it, they don't take the time to lesson plan. And if they do, they're definitely not thinking about the obstacles that they're going to face prior to the obstacles coming up. And ultimately, it's a cycle they feel burnt out because they're not taking the time to come up with these lessons. And to think about the obstacles ahead of time. And so then when they get to the place where they have to teach, and then also go comes up, they're not as prepared in both areas. When you take the time, out of your day, to actually prepare for it. Well, you're much better prepared. And how often have we had the idea and not done anything about it simply because we didn't have the time to plan the ideas out. Because it takes a little bit to get that motor running. And to actually make the progress within ourselves that we need to make, maybe it's that, you need to relook at one of the handouts to see exactly how they taught it. Or maybe it's that you need to go get the materials. Or maybe it's that you need to budget for it, whatever it is, you're probably going to have to plan especially if this is a new way of doing things. You can't necessarily wing it and you can't expect yourself to do it really well if you do wing it.

Luckily, over the next few months in clarity, we'll be creating done-for-you lesson plans based off the inspirational strategies from this year symposium. So if you're in clarity, we've got you covered for that. We still want you taking the time to write your own lesson plans and see how you can navigate through this and figure out what obstacles are going to come up for you along the way. Because even though you can customise those lesson plans in less than five minutes and be rocking and rolling, you're still gonna want to have a plan in place, especially if it's new. And ultimately, the fourth step is to give yourself a little bit of grace. Because we can't become experts in something until we teach it. So that means the moment that you have the idea, the moment that you lesson plan, you still haven't taught it. But once you do, then you can become a better teacher. And then you can begin to refine your teaching around that teaching in and of itself is a skill and teaching each strategy teaching each skill in and of itself is a skill. That sounded very meta. So hopefully you get the point. You don't have to be perfect, but you do have to try.

If you're interested in joining clarity, mark your calendars for April 7 And we're gonna open the doors to clarity and impacting independence together during our free community webinar, and that's going to include some crazy good bonuses. I'm really excited about it. I'll be sharing a little bit more about the free community webinar, what you can expect and what you can expect to learn. There's no pressure to join us in any of our programmes when we provide you with a free webinar. This is my way of giving back to you because we love it and we love you. We love the community.

Okay, let's review biggest things that I like to do together. keep the momentum going after a conference. First, I'm going to write down at least three ideas. And then for each idea, you're going to figure out what obstacles might come up. And I'm going to come up with solutions for those obstacles, then I'm going to schedule the time to plan it. And then I'm going to give myself a little bit of emotional mental grace, and not expect perfection the very first time, it will get better. I'm sure the first time that I do the wheelchair inventory, I'm going to be like, Oh, how do I was this? How's that? Going to be a little apprehensive? It's been a few years since I've worked with a student or client who is in a wheelchair. And I'm not proficient at the inventory yet. I can't expect myself to be perfect at this. Hence, the reason why I haven't specifically taught it if you don't is, and that's okay. You get better at things by trying them. So what are you going to do today? To use this information to help take one step forward in your teaching? Send me a note on Instagram @alliedindependence, or Facebook, and let me know and let's connect.

I am trying to record enough podcasts so that way you have one every week. There's no promises right now. But I'm really trying to give you valuable content every single Tuesday. So there's a topic that you want to hear about, or if you even want to be on this podcast, please just let us know because we are really 100% here for you. Alright friends, until next week, I hope you use this information to help you take a step forward in becoming a better teacher. Bye for now.

Outro

You know that feeling when you've been rushing around all day. Your kids need food your students need to be scheduled. It's five minutes before your next lesson, and you have no plans. Teaching during a pandemic has had many challenges. Wouldn't you agree? One of which being it takes so much longer to plan for a remote O&M lesson, then he did to plan for a face to face lesson. But that's not a problem anymore because my friend we have got you covered. Your Allied Independence community stepped up. And we've bundled together eight remote O&M lesson plans that can be taught virtually or distance all created by your community and customisable to your individual students unique needs in five minutes or less. You want ‘em? I know you do. All you have to do is go to Allied Independence online.com forward slash remote R E M O T E and grab your copy. Eight free O&M lesson plans so you can start spending your time doing what you do best and that my friend is teaching.