It's no secret that we want to become more impactful teachers. But what does that exactly mean? And where do we need to focus our attention in order to get there? We're breaking it all down today so that way, you can stop chasing shiny pennies, know where to focus your attention so that way you can step into the best version of yourself that makes more impact for your learners, skyrockets your learners’ success and has a more balanced life.

In this podcast episode:

• Personal Story

• Three Pillars of Impactful Teaching

  1. Innovative Teaching Strategies

  2. Community

  3. Balanced Life

Transcript of the Episode:

Welcome back to another episode of A Step Forward. Can we just take a slight note? This is episode 112, and if you're a 90’s baby and like slow jams back in the day, then maybe you have like 112 lyrics popping up in your head right now. And I just want to say if that's happening, that is A-okay. We are good. We could still be friends. We are high enough up in our careers at this point, friend, that we can be like, That's my jam, even though it's inappropriate. So if you were born a younger, younger than that, maybe your lower younger level millennial, or you’re Gen Z, go on Spotify and look up 112. The song is anywhere or everywhere. I don't know. Anyway, that's what we're talking about right now.

However, we're actually going to get into the meat of the conversation. And that is talking about this concept of the three pillars of impactful teaching. You know, we all really want to be impactful teachers. And yet, sometimes we can struggle to figure out like how? What combination? How do we do this? How do we move from where I am right now to where I want to be?

And we're talking about this at the live training this past week. And it's not really about you know where I want to be, because in our profession, there is no up. It's all a lateral move and that can feel really disheartening, especially if you've been doing this for 30 some years, 20 some years, and or you can just see the lack of financial progression when maybe your other friends are progressing financially, and you aren't, or they're progressing in their jobs and you aren't. I know that. I can speak from experience, because my mom was really, really, really high up in corporate. And when I was in education, she could not for the life of her understand why I loved what I did. Like she understood that but how there was no upward movement, there was no upward mobility.

And so for a lot of us, we’re high achievers in this field like to basically start a profession. You have to be a high achiever, and then to be a high achiever, and to go through life, and then all of a sudden at 22, it just kind of stops. That can contribute to the fact that we often feel jaded or confused or overwhelmed. And then on top of that, when we do want to be the overachievers that we are and we want to give to our learners because that is what we've devoted our lives to, then we get stopped with red tape, red tape, red tape, red tape. Can't do this, can't do that, can't do this.

Just recently, I had an experience where I have a learner whose mom says specifically that they have a hard time traveling in environments like not on the school grounds, but the school at the time wouldn't allow me off school grounds. Like what… What am I going to… How am I…  and you can sense that frustration. And that's just one example.

As somebody who I consider myself an impactful teacher, and of course, I consider myself you know, along the same lines as you I don't think of myself as any higher or better or anything like that. The thing that I have going for me are a few things. A, that I have a level of confidence in my skill level. Also, I know that I'm constantly at the edge of the progressiveness of our field. I'm constantly doing my very best to keep up with what's happening, what's new. Do I read every white paper? No. Do I care about the white papers so much? No. I'm glad that they exist, because they help us get through to our admins and break through a lot of bureaucracy. So to those of you guys who do and love the white papers, and are very academic, I very much so appreciate you. But for me, I want more strategy. And I stay on top of that.

But not only that, one thing that I find really cool is that I get to have like this amazing community that helps lift me up. And I have you guys that I can go to and chat with very regularly and ask, you know, how do you get around this? What do you do for this, and all of those things are really, really great.

Now, I'm gonna take a step back, before I get into the pillars of impactful teaching, and just want to recognize here that I'm in a really interesting and unique position within our community. And I think of our community is like a circle, kind of like we're all holding hands, like, you know, the Michael Jackson's We are the World and we're all holding hands. And we just all have different viewpoints. And just from where I'm standing, and because of who I am, I get this a really interesting viewpoint because I get to talk to other O&M specialists all around the world and see what they're going through. And a lot of times, I can put the thread of it all together.

Personal Story

Here's a little personal story for you before we get into that. So I've been thoroughly, thoroughly thoroughly enjoying going to dance classes. And I've never taken a day one type of dance class before because I kind of just… I grew up dancing a certain style of dance. And then I started doing that style of dance again, as an adult. But now more so learning actually how to do it and not just, you know, in the kitchen, on the tile floor. Anyway, I go to a new style of dance. And I have been asking the universe for a video of me dancing, because it's something I love to do. And a lot of people take videos of themselves dancing, and I don't have a video of me dancing at all.

And lo and behold, the teacher of my day, one class in this new style of dance, asked me to help demo which is so nice. Also, I was just the only one not like engaged in recording of the demonstration at the end. So it wasn't anything like oh, you did better or anything like that. It was literally I just didn't have my phone out yet. And I was the only one just standing there.

So I finally have this video on film. And I found it to be such a beautiful present from the universe, to remind me of my purpose on this earth and with you guys. And just here. I'm here to be like a silent guide. I'm not always the expert. I'm not the hero in any story. But I'm here to connect you with the person who can help. And just simply the fact that I got to be, you know, the person in the demo was like, Oh my gosh, this is so cool. And the fact that I have no other dance videos, and I had been asking the universe for one, it's a really great reminder, you know, of just where my place is.

And so if you don't know me very well, that's definitely how I see myself, I'm not the hero in your story. I'm not you dancing. I'm not you taking control of anything, I can't make any decisions for you. But what I can do and what I can offer is, for me to show you how I do things, or for me to show you have other instructors and how they do them. And for you to be able to connect with those instructors through me. That's what I love so much. So I just wanted to share that because it was a really beautiful story for me.

Okay, okay, let's get into the three pillars of impactful teaching. Now I see this simply because I've struggled so much. You guys all know if you know anything about my story that I struggled with burnout for a little while. And then I had kids, and magically when I had kids, and because I had kids that I really had to be like, oh, gotta pick up that game, girlfriend, like this is no longer acceptable. You can't not eat dinner because that's what was happening.

I got to a point where my kids were certain ages. One was on baby food. One was on toddler food. I was on real people food. And then the baby was also being breastfed, too. So we had three different dinners going on. And if you're also asking like, oh, where was your husband at the time? He's working. He was a personal trainer. And so I was very much the primary parent every night, I picked up the kids and, and all of that.

So it got to the point where, with the current systems that I had in place, I couldn't eat dinner. If I left more than 15 minutes after my day ended, officially, I couldn't eat dinner. And then at that time, I had administrators, one specific administrator who had no idea this was going on in my personal life. This is not to jab at anybody, but they specifically in a staff meeting said that you're expected to stay, no matter how late the meeting goes. I was like, well, that's great for you. But for me, I then don't eat dinner. And then I don't eat all night, and then I'm starving the next day. And it just does not work because I'm up all night with my baby. So something had to give.

And I really had to figure out how to be an impactful teacher and lead a balanced life. Because my life depended on it. There was no question, I had hit a place where my teaching was finally good again, because I had gone through rough patches in that. But I was mentally, emotionally, physically struggling to survive. And I think that we all go through times like that, my story is not different than anybody else's story, like the words may be different. But the things that I go through, or the things that I have gone through, are not that different. And now I'm in a position where I get to see other people all around, going through the same things, and seeing how they figure it out.

Three Pillars of Impactful Teaching

So when we talk about the three pillars of teaching, I want you to think about them. Not as like, this is something that cast just decided and developed, and whatever, whatever. But more of like, here are three pillars that we can look at to become better teachers. If we focus on these three areas, we don't have to focus on everything. Well, we can focus in three specific areas to kind of knock down those dominoes. And one thing that holds people back a lot of times is we allow ourselves to stay stuck. What you noticed in my story is that I didn't allow myself to stay stuck. Had I stayed with the same questions of how did I get here? Or how come this isn't working? Or asking myself really low level questions, that would only give me low level answers, because your brain is going to come up with low level answers to answer low level questions.

Tony Robbins says that the quality of your life is determined by the quality of the questions that you ask. And when we can ask ourselves higher level questions like how can this work for me? Or how can I adapt? Then our brain is kind of sent out to think about, oh, that higher level question is going to bring us higher level answers. So as we go through these, start to think about how can I step more fully into this, even if it's just one step. No one's asking you to leap. But what I am asking you to do is look at how you can take that one step, especially when it feels uncomfortable, because we all know that taking that step, when you are out of balance, that is the momentum. That is the good thing. But if you're not used to it, it feels very scary.

I was just telling my therapist the other day that life feels really good right now, and I'm having a lot of anxiety because of it. We both laughed. She was like you've worked really hard to not have to work so hard. Like yes, but now I don't know what to do. This is different. Not struggling can also be an upper limit. A lot of times we think of hustle and struggle and perseverance as the good as the warrior. And let's challenge that to say how can I bring more ease into my life? How can I take this step even though it's uncomfortable and use this momentum to go forward into a better, easier life with more impact? That's what we're really going for.

1. Innovative Teaching Strategies

The first pillar of impactful teaching is innovative teaching strategies. There, it's not a secret that our profession needs to move forward. We cannot stay where we are right now, we've only been around since the 60’s, hasn't even been 100 years. And we need to keep going. We have a lot of people on the ground, making great moves. And those people are going to help carry the rest of us who have boots on the ground, and have our heads down with our learners. And we need to hold hands with those people and say, Okay, you have a little bit more time to do research, or you have these ideas, and you have this expertise, my head is a little bit above or underwater or I'm swimming out here on a lonely island right now. How can I move forward? How can I bring those innovative strategies into my classes?

So the question that you might want to ask yourself today is, when was the last time that I actively engaged with innovative teaching strategies, not just saw them on a webinar? Because webinars are everywhere. Learning is everywhere. It's really how are you going to use this information to move yourself forward. And what we do at the international orientation and mobility online symposium is we not only give you the strategies, but we help give you structure to implement them, or not just forcing new data down your throats.

If you can look at the agenda this year, you'll see that there's nobody on there that's just sharing a survey with you, or just sharing their data. We've specifically and you and our community has specifically said no, thank you. I don't need your data, I need your strategies, and I need a way to implement them. And that's what we give you. Now it's up to you to again, take that step forward. Move. Move into the unknown. Try it and see how much easier your life can get.

The live training that we did this week, I shared an example of just this week, as I'm recording this, I was with a few learners. And we were in a residential neighborhood. And in this residential neighborhood, it's like one of those ones where there are some T shapes, there are some plus shapes, but every intersection is only a two way stop. Meaning they could go along the main road where all the perpendicular cars stop. But if they want to cross the main road, they have to go without any traffic controls. And that is a big difference.

So what we had to do was we went through the whole neighborhood. And we chose different intersections to do Donna Sauerburger’s TMAD method. Now, if you remember, that method was taught at the 2018 symposium. And I was able to take that information from 2018. Okay, 2018. Was able to take that information and use it right now in 2022. And say, Look, this intersection, we are close to the main road where the light is. So it's a situation of uncertainty. If you don't know what these terms mean, you can go look them up on Donna's website. I personally had to be taught the information for me to get it. But then further down into the neighborhood, they became situations of certainty. And so we got to look at that.

But had I not have that information and had I not had the perseverance to use it, I would not have been able to teach it, you know what I mean? And then I would have… you know what I would have done, which a lot of people do, they kind of just shy away from things that they don't know. And nobody can blame anybody for that. But it then becomes a ripple effect of consequences after year year year, of just shying away from the information that they don't know that they don't have. Because they don't feel like they're the expert in teaching it. And I completely get where you're coming from.

But if you can learn from global thought leaders from all around the world to see what they're doing, then you are going to put yourself at the seat of the best possible situation. We can't learn everything. We can't know everything, but we can have a curated list of the best, most innovative ideas. So look at that and see how can you step more fully into innovative teaching strategies.

2. Community

The next one is going to be your community. And your community is one that's scientifically hard to put into words. I asked my 8-year-old as I was planning for the webinar, what does being in community give you? Now granted, my 8-year-old, just this past summer started to really care about his friends. So it's really interesting to get his perspective because you and I, we've had a social life for almost as long as we can remember. But he literally just six months ago, started wanting to have a social life and help bring home, this is a notebook paper with a phone number scribbled on it. Anyway, if you have adolescent kids who are learning how to manage their own social lives, or if you're a parent of a kid, and you've been through this, I'm struggling, I would love your tips. I don't know. I'm like, why is there not a phone on the wall in the kitchen? Please stop texting somebody's mom, she's at work. You can’t text to your friend's mom, weird emojis. She doesn't think it's funny. It's an interesting life. And so he's very new at it.

And he said, a community brings him happiness. Yeah. Community is happiness. Scientifically, community is more than happiness. According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, having a community brings you a sense of belonging, support, and purpose, and it increases your mental health. Hello, yes, I want all of those things. But we are O and M specialists. We are out by ourselves all the time. Our admins don't even know what we do. I mean, when was the last time you met someone and they were like, Oh, we're so glad you're here, what do you do? Or they didn't understand the importance of why you need to do or to ask for the things that you are asking for.

And all kind of comes back to the same. Having orientation and mobility specialists to be that sounding board, to have those ideas. It really can help you with your own ideas. Prime example, just at the webinar, the live training, which by the way, you can listen to that live training on this podcast. If you listen before November 17, when early bird registration closes for the symposium this year, it's just the bonus episode right above this one. If you see it there, it's there. If you don't, then it's gone.

Anyway, we had this whole presentation planned. And then people really started sharing their ideas. And there were so many lightbulb moments even for me. And for some of the people who were in the room, I had to say, Oh, that's cool. What is that? What do you… How do you get that? What do you... what do you mean? And their ideas, once they explained what it was, because I didn't I really just didn't even think about it, or know or understand what they were talking about at first, we're like, oh, my gosh, that is amazing. Why didn't I think of that? And they can be such a small, small idea that really propels other ideas or gives you another piece of information because we know that clarity comes from action. And so when you take that action, and when your community can help lift you up and give you that new perspective, you can really propel yourself forward.

I also like to think of it as you know, we're walking down the street, and there are obstacles like buildings, you know, if we're in New York City, there are lots of obstacles. There's lots of buildings around. And we can't necessarily see our destination or the best route to get there. But if we can elevate our perspective, then we can rise above the obstacles in this metaphor, their buildings, and we can see the destination, we can trace our steps to it.

So that way, when we get back down to the ground level, it's not like so the buildings are going away. But it is, it is easier to get to where you're going when you have a path to get there. And in order to do that, you have to lift your mental health up. And you can't come into work, jaded. You can't come into work, saying, Oh, why is this happening? You've known teachers who have been so jaded and so burnt out, and how impactful are they really? Probably not. And we get to choose.

Now of course, with mental health, we don't always get to choose the extent of our mental health issues. That's not what I'm saying. But I am saying that we get to choose our perspective. And we get to decide, do I want to be a burned out teacher or do I want to be impactful, do I want to have confidence, do I want to walk into the IEP room knowing full well that I am the expert, and be able to command the attention and advocate for my learner's needs. That's the difference. And that's one of the reasons why having community really helps to lift us up.

3. Balanced Life

Now, the third piece, and I almost want to do it, is having a balanced life. If you are not using your time efficiently, you're going to spend a lot of time at work. And in some seasons of our lives, yeah, we're going to spend a lot of time at work. I'm like internet friends with somebody who is in their first year of teaching. And they will sometimes reach out and ask how do you do all of this in one work day? And I was like, unfortunately, I don't know. Because when I was in your year… stage of teaching, I was working 14 plus hours a day for years, I didn't have my systems in place. So I can't tell you exactly how to do it besides to set aside time to get your systems in place. And that means using your time efficiently.

Now, I can offer you all the time saving tips in the world, I can offer you different strategies that I use, how I streamline things. But ultimately, it really comes down to honoring and valuing your own time. That's why we offer things with an efficient delivery method at the symposium, we're not expecting you to take all of the time, and just, you know, attend one webinar, or attend one webinar, attend one webinar, and move your schedule around those at all times. That's not how it works, not whatsoever.

And I know the symposium in and of itself, it is a conference. But in this case, we're all in one room together. So we can't just skip the whole small talk of like, oh, what presentation did you go to. Nope, all I know what presentation I went to and I have my own thoughts. And we get to dive deep into those thoughts. And those ideas, which really will elicit more strategies from us.

You know, the other thing about using your time efficiently and having an efficient delivery method is that you don't have to take all the symposium presentations at once with us, you actually have three extra weeks to watch them. It's a bonus. That extra time is worth $197, just within itself. And not only that, but you get five bonus presentations as well. And of course, all of this CEUs and you can watch it all at the same time or from anywhere. I don't care if you're on a beach in Malibu. If you're, you know, in the mountains of Puerto Rico. If you're in China, or if you're in your backyard. All of this is completely accessible. On your own time.

I like to really watch professional development when I'm doing laundry on Sundays. It's a very comfy cozy time for me, I love it. And I feel like I'm actually being productive and then doing something with my hands, which I don't like laundry, which is why I watch productive things so that it can go a little bit faster. But when we're really looking at and stepping into the better version of ourselves, making sure that we're using innovative teaching strategies, making sure that we are leaning on and taking time and making time to support our communities. And making sure that we are doing things in a time efficient manner, is really going to help us because our time is utmost valuable.

Like if we think about it, if we make $38 an hour, which is about most of us here in the United States, then what is the return on investment for this hour? And we're not just looking at, oh, I don't have the time right now. But how much time is this going to save me in the future? That's a much better question. How much time is this going to save me in the future? Because if I had to go back and rewatch or reread the TMAD method every time that I needed to teach it, it would have taken me so many hours at this point, especially five years later. So if you really look at how am I using my time, take that into consideration not just do I have the time to give right now but how can I use this time and to make a return on my investment?

One of the ways of course is with the O and M symposium and I would absolutely love to have you if you would like to join us. We have so many people already registered. Over Golly, I believe it were around 200 at this point which is very exciting. From all around the world. Last year, we had 500 O and M specialists from 16 different countries, not everybody comes live, don't worry.

And you can chit chat with people in the chat section because this Zoom meeting, or you can turn off the chat also totally up to you, right, this is your experience. And you can sit at home with a cup of coffee, or sparkling beverage or any other kind of beverage, a lot of people have parties, a lot of people just snuggle up for the day, a lot of people also go see students in the morning or afterwards, depending upon where you are in the world. And we just have a really great, great time together.

We are definitely going to be taking these three pillars into the symposium. And using these ideas to help lift you up so that you can become the most impactful version of yourself and become inspired, have more information, and really have a comfortable space to learn from best thought leaders from around the world so that you can gain information that you would have never gotten before. And so that way, you can do it in a way that works for you with your timeline, your schedule, and have it in a way that you can really know and get to know these people before you even come to the symposium in and of itself.

So if you're interested in joining the symposium, you can go to orientationandmobilitysymposium.com. Early bird registration closes November 17 of 2022 for the 2023 Symposium. Otherwise, registration in itself is open until February 16 of 2023. We're going to just keep that open for you. So you can come on in at any time that works for you.

The refund policy is through the roof amazing, we completely understand that your pennies are totally precious. So make sure to check that out because it if you're having any doubts, I hope that that sets you a little bit at ease. We're really here just to help you and support you. And if you have any questions, please feel free to email us at theteam@alliedindependenceonline.com or hit me up on Instagram. I love hanging out on Instagram, @alliedindependence or Facebook or LinkedIn also @alliedindependence. And I hope that this was helpful for you whether you decide to join us at this symposium or not, you can take these three pillars and really use them to move yourself forward. And not only that, but actually think about the questions that you're asking yourself and use those questions to propel yourself forward.

All right, we've said forward plenty of times today so I'm not gonna say it again. But I will see you in a few weeks my friend.