Next Chapter for Teachers Podcast
Whether it's classroom management or teacher burnout, this podcast has you covered. Being a teacher isn't what it used to be. The need to meet students' educational and social-emotional needs can easily overshadow your own personal needs as a person outside of the classroom, so much so that quitting teaching may feel like the only option for a healthy life. The Next Chapter for Teachers Podcast, hosted by Dr. Erin Sponaugle, covers topics in education relevant to teachers that address the stressful issues that can cloud the joy of what teaching is meant to be, while offering helpful strategies to streamline teaching and address conflicts that arise in the classroom. Topics covered are teacher burnout, classroom management, trends in instruction and assessment, and self-care. Erin Sponaugle is a teacher, author, and speaker with the experience and insight to provide practical advice to other educators. Subscribe to this podcast to get ideas and inspiration for teaching in uncertain times. For more information on turning the page to the future of the teaching profession, visit www.erinsponaugle.com.
Next Chapter for Teachers Podcast
39. Finding Joy and Teaching Creatively with a Scripted Curriculum - An Interview with Elizabeth Peterson
Scripted curricula and strict adherence to teaching standards can threaten to destroy your love for teaching. How can teachers combat the loss of teacher autonomy and freedom to be creative in their lesson planning when they're handed a scripted curriculum? Elizabeth Peterson of The Inspired Classroom shares in this interview how teachers can infuse their classrooms with joy, social-emotional learning, and creativity, even when they're expected to teach from a script. Listen to this inspiring conversation and learn more about Elizabeth's SEAL program to bring more creativity into classrooms and schools.
You can learn more about Elizabeth and take her FREE class, Three Ways to Integrate the Arts in Your Classroom with SEL, at theinspiredclassroom.com
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Get your copy of Teachaholic: The 7-Day MindSET Shift to Conquer Burnout, Build Life-Changing Boundaries, and Reignite Your Love for Teaching at www.erinsponaugle.com/book.
You can download the Teachaholic Action Guide to begin your journey back from burnout here.
Download your FREE checklist, The Great 88: Rules, Routines, and Expectations to Go Over and Over, and feel confident establishing classroom management.
For more resources on classroom management, time management, and preserving mental well-being to avoid teacher burnout, visit www.erinsponaugle.com.
Find more upper elementary classroom resources by visiting Next Chapter Press on Teachers Pay Teachers.
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Being a teacher isn't what it used to be. The good news is you don't have to figure it out on your own. If you're looking for truth, inspiration, and tips for success, in the classroom and beyond, you're in the right place. It's time to turn the page to the future of the profession. This is the next chapter for teachers podcast. Hello everyone. This is Aaron Spinagle for episode 39 of the next chapter for teachers podcast. Welcome, and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. I'm recording this the week after. Actually, I'm recording it the week of Thanksgiving break, but you're going to hear it the week after. And today's episode is a little bit different. I've got an interview for you with a teacher who specializes in creativity and incorporating SEL into the classroom. But uh more importantly, the angle that we're going with this today is we're going to talk about what you do if you have been given a scripted curriculum or that you if you have uh things that you must follow, very stringent standards you must adhere to in the classroom that take away your teacher autonomy and your creativity and how to still have joy in the classroom even when this is what you have been handed. So I'm going to introduce you to Elizabeth Peterson of the Inspired Classroom, and we're going to have a conversation about how we contend with scripted lessons, lack of control, and still allow ourselves to bring creativity and enthusiasm to our classroom in spite of those circumstances. So settle in and let's listen. All right, we're here for the next chapter for teachers podcast with Elizabeth Peterson. Did I say that right? Yes, you did. Hello. So Elizabeth is a creative arts integration specialist. She is also the creator of SEAL, which stands for Social, Emotional, Artistic Learning. And I'm going to let her tell you about that in a moment. But first, Elizabeth, tell us a little about yourself, what you do, and what you are passionate about in education. Awesome.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you so much for having me, Erin. So currently I'm a fifth grade teacher, and I've been in upper elementary for many, many years. I've been teaching since 1999. So this is year 27. And a few of those years, I was actually a middle school music teacher as well. So I am very happy to be in fifth grade right now, and I hope to spend the rest of my career in this age level because I absolutely love it. But my passion has always, always been in arts, um, integrated arts, and um really just using that to enhance students' learning, to deepen their learning. And um that's been something that has just grown ever since I was in college and utilizing my first art love, which has always been music, and then slowly branching out from there. And so I now have a uh website. It's the Inspired Classroom that's been going since gosh, I think 2009. And I also have a uh podcast called Enjoy Teaching Again. And I think that is where we definitely have a lot of like-mindedness is in helping teachers.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, exactly. And I also, before I taught art, I was a fifth grade teacher for 15 years. Yeah, yeah, that was my favorite grade level as well. I really like the independence that students of that age have, and you can do a lot with them creatively. Which leads me to what we're going to be talking about today. We're gonna be talking about a topic that really has been impacting teachers as of late. And that's when, you know, when you enjoy teaching, and when one of the things you like best about being a teacher is being able to be creative and create special experiences and lessons for your students. What do you do when you have that record scratch moment and you are handed a scripted curriculum or given very strict guidelines as to what you can and can't teach? And that creativity, that teacher autonomy is taken away from you. When that happens, teachers tend to really lose their joy and it impacts morale school-wide. So we're gonna talk today what teachers can do to combat that, and ways that you can still be creative even when you are in a situation where it feels like the creativity has been taken out of the classroom. So, as I was just saying there, teachers really do feel demoralized when they lose the ability to just to teach the way they feel is best and to put their own creative spin and their personalization into their lesson plans. So when they get that scripted curriculum, it often feels like the instructional practices that they enjoy or the joy just in general of teaching has been taken away from them. So, how can teachers still find room for creativity without breaking the rules that a scripted curriculum or um stricter instructional guidelines may have?
SPEAKER_02:I love this topic because I I live it. I you right, and I know you have as well. And, you know, I have conversations at least a few times a week with some of my colleagues, and we're talking about our scripted curriculum, um, our uh the pace at which we need to keep up with things. And so many teachers just feel like that joy of teaching is stripped away when they're given a program like that. And then we're asked to do it with fidelity, right? We probably heard that word. And um it's just it can be really frustrating because so many of us teachers went in thinking we were gonna be able to be inspiring to our kids and we were gonna be able to, you know, create lessons for them that are gonna just make them into better humans and teach the content. And so much of that is just stripped away. And now there are programs, and I and I know I'm preaching to the choir right now, but there are so many programs that are literally scripted where you are holding on to your book and reading lesson after lesson. But I know that there is um ways to help teachers with this because I see it time and again. And even though I feel like I am teaching some of my subjects in a in a somewhat scripted way, and I have in the past as well. I've had different various levels of scripted things that I've needed to do. My approach to arts integration, because I've been doing it for so so long. My approach is really practical and and a way that teachers can use different strategies in ways that just kind of just like fit in here and there. And there's strategies that I'm sure we'll kind of get into in a little bit, but they're strategies that can just be used at the drop of a hat, can be used to enhance any lesson and really practical because that's what teachers need, and we need to be able to have moments of creativity throughout our day for our students, but also for ourselves, so that we don't get sucked down into you know the drudgery of feeling like we just have no control over what we're teaching our students when we know we all know that they need a little extra, they need a little bit more um inspired teaching.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I agree. It's we we have to use our brain as a muscle too, just like the just like the kids. Yes. And like all those things you were saying are things that I started to feel towards my end of teaching in fifth grade. And when an art teacher opportunity came open, I jumped at it because I thought there's a chance for me to get my autonomy and my freedom back uh in the classroom. So but much let's talk about where this push is coming from. What's what's pushing the scripted and more stringent um guidelines as to what you're going to teach and how you're going to teach in the classroom. This push is mostly coming from the desire to raise student achievement or test scores, be more layman's terms, test scores. We want higher test scores. And that seems to be the driving force and what he teachers hear a lot about. You know, we need to do this to bring our test scores up, or this is where they at right near now, data-wise. We need to do this to get them here. And it all seems to be like a numbers game sometimes. So, why do you think creativity, or even how is creativity, um, so essential right now in education, especially with the pressure to hit these high standards and to raise test scores?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and it's and it's like you said, that push, right? We can't push kids into doing better. It's like, it's just not natural, right? And, you know, I've had years where I have pushed and pushed and pushed to um, you know, get those test scores going and making sure that my students are gonna know every little last drop of content that I can before they take the test. But I had a real eye-opening moment actually, a few years back when I was prepping my fourth graders for the math MCAS, which is the it back then, I guess it was the first year that kids were taking MCAS. And so it was a huge thing. Um, and so a couple of days before the test, I decided to do something drastic. And I decided that we weren't gonna do any testing prep. We weren't gonna do any content learning, and instead we took an entire school day, well, as much as I could get out of them, you know, without them, you know, going to recess and this and that and the other thing. But I kept my kids and I had what I called a studio day with them, and we created and then we journaled about it and we shared and we just had this pause before the test. And what came out of that was that my students had the their own revelations of oh, that kind of took a lot of the stress off. You know, they came in ready for the test in a way that was different than just, I know all the math stuff, Mrs. Peterson. I know all the ELA stuff that I need to do, I know how to write this narrative. Excuse me, instead, they were just calm and ready to take on the test. And that I think was such a great moment for all of us to really understand that you can't push, push, push, push, push until the bitter ends. Sometimes you have to take that moment. But to kind of more answer your question about, you know, why creativity is so essential, it's it's an engaging thing. Students are engaged with their learning when they're doing things in a more creative way. So if we want their learning to stick, sometimes we have to stop um going just by the book, but thinking about how we can tackle this at a different angle, how can we slow things down a little bit, do things a little differently, because that creativity and that use of the arts in that way can just deepen their learning and help it to really solidify for themselves. And that type of learning, I know, is ultimately what we really want for our students, not just for them to pass the test. Um, and and studies have shown over decades that the more we do that type of teaching, where we're taking our time, we're learning the content, we're engaging our students, the better they do it, the test, too.
SPEAKER_00:That's true. Yeah, that is true. And also you mentioned there with the uh the stress the tests cause. And you know, when they're stressed out, they can't uh you anybody can't concentrate or do their best. And we put all this pressure on ourselves and them, and sometimes that pressure backfires, does not give you the results you want, and doesn't allow you to reach the the levels that you anticipated or had hoped for. So how does let's talk about social emotional learning here and arts? And since we're talking, we just brought, I just brought up stress and what that does to our ability to perform. How does incorporating the arts support social emotional learning? We hear that buzzword a lot, but we don't always hear how to apply it in our in our classrooms. So, how does incorporating the arts support social emotional learning and student well-being in general? What changes do you see when students, you've kind of already talked touched on this a little bit, embrace this approach?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so arts is one of my favorite top topics to talk about in education, and SEL is definitely a close second because that is something that we really need to address with our students. And teachers are obviously getting more and more well-versed in social emotional learning and the importance of it. And the thing with the arts is that the arts just basically they embody SEL, they are like social emotional learning in action. If you think about, you know, how you express yourself through visual art, how you work together when you're um playing with an ensemble, uh, you know, when you're putting yourself in someone else's shoes as you're working with theater and drama and you know, sh becoming a little bit more empathetic to a character that you're portraying, like all these things are those skills that we want our students to be able to learn and practice and be able to get better and better at. And so when teachers are able to embrace this like creative approach to SEL, which in my in my world has become SEAL, social emotional artistic learning, they're really working proactively also to help students, and that can actually reduce student behaviors in general and just help the students overall and teachers.
SPEAKER_00:You bring up behaviors, and we're we're we are recording this the week before Thanksgiving break. And uh there are there's there's more than one turkey running around my school. I don't know about you, but uh yeah. They yeah, there's there's quite a few little turkeys that uh could use some behavior reminders right now. So there's that's a really good point in how um how how that impacts uh how we um social emotionally impacts how we perform and how we um interact with each other or how students interact with each other as well. So you bring up a lot about being creative in the classroom, but I hear a lot of teachers say, even aside from the autonomy issues with a scripted curriculum, yeah, they'll say, as far as integrating the arts and being creative in the classroom, say, Well, I'm not artsy, or I can't draw a straight line, or you don't want to see me draw something on the board. So there are teachers that have like maybe an aversion to being creative or trying creative things.
SPEAKER_02:Sure, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So how can teachers overcome that fear in order to be creative in their classrooms for the betterment of their students?
SPEAKER_02:So one big thing is in your own mindset about what this what this really does mean for yourself in the classroom. So it's less about being artsy and it's more about being open to things. So, you know, you don't need to be a master painter, you don't need to be a talented musician to do these types of things. You just need a willingness to try because your students, they just don't need, they don't need you to be perfect at any of these things, but they do need an opportunity. And one thing that I know a lot of uh teachers, when you start to think about, you know, the role that arts can play into your classroom, you start to understand that these arts experiences, they're not for you as the teacher, they're really for your students because your students have so many talents and interests and ideas and capabilities. And so you want them to be able to utilize some of those in your classroom. And in your job in that case is to be open. I remember I had a student a few, gosh, a number of years ago, and her, and she just sticks out into my head because she was super, super shy and super um, you know, just didn't didn't want to speak up or anything. But then finally, once you start to understand that I would be open to her doing some visual art, something that she was extremely talented with, and I let her do some things that she wanted to do to show her understanding, or even do like an extra part of a project, she started to flourish. And let me tell you, I am no visual artist. I'm one of those teachers that can't draw a straight line, like I'm a stick figure kind of person. Whenever I draw on the board to do like a math word problem, I get laughed at by my students. Like it's bad. But I, you know, I didn't let that dictate her experience in the classroom. And of course, you know, teachers who are interested in doing a little bit more arts in the classroom, they just need to start with something that they're familiar with, you know, or enjoy themselves. Like for me, I really love music. I brought music into my classroom as the first thing, and then I was able to expand myself by taking a course or, you know, learning from a colleague or learning from someone else. And you know, that's that's where teachers being able to. We have a motto at the Inspire Classroom. It's get inspired to be inspiring. And so I think teachers really need to put that action in to go seek what is going to inspire you so that you can bring some of these experiences into your classroom. And you know, I've had numerous opportunities for teachers over the years to try new art forms in a way that's teacher-centered, so that they get really comfortable with a new strategy, a new art form, a new activity, so that then they can really feel comfortable bringing that kind of thing into their classroom too.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I like what you said about being open and that it's not necessarily for you as the teacher, but doing it for your students. That's a good way to frame it into be brave and try something new and know that it's it's for it's for them and for for their experience. Those are all those are all very good points. Thank you. So what are some like you mentioned, there's like just gotta be brave. Some of these times you just gotta be brave. You want to be creative for for your students or your the kids in your classroom, you gotta just go out there and you gotta try something new. So, what are some small everyday ways that a teacher can weave in some creative expression into their instruction, even into subjects that aren't necessarily artistic or that are just very difficult to squeeze in things that are creative and out of the box?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. So I love doing um doodling. Okay. I have a lot of students who really thrive when it comes to doing little sketches and doing little doodles, and um, it can be designs and people or whatever it might be. And so I actually use doodling as an everyday strategy thing. So if a student is working on a math worksheet and they finish early after they check their work, I I invite them to do like a math border around their paper. And it really, and then sometimes they look at me like, what are you talking about? A math board. I'm like, I don't know, do a math border if you figure it out, right? And it just gets them thinking in a whole new way, you know, and it gets them, you know, am I gonna use like math symbols? Am I gonna draw out the word problem that we just did, you know? Um, so doing that type of thing, um, just inviting students to do some doodling. Um, another way that I love to use just quick doodles is at the end of a lesson, um, sometimes I will ask the students to like draw an emoji of how you feel with what we did today, and give them an opportunity to just, you know, border out a corner of their paper or even have like an exit ticket that they can just doodle out an emoji and add a sentence that kind of goes with that really, really quick. Um, another really great quick arts integration strategy is Tableau. And for anyone who doesn't know what Tableau is, it is like a frozen picture that you make with your body and your facial expression, your body language. You can do it alone, you can do it sitting, you can do it standing, you can do it with a partner or a group. But it's an and you know, basically, you know, you'll you'll like as a teacher, you'll count down three, two, one, and kids freeze in a pose. And so this is such an like I call it an in my back pocket arts integration strategy because it's so simple. You can literally do it at the drop of a hat and use it to help students to like um you know think about what the character is thinking or what the character is doing in the story at any moment and help them to kind of like get into the head of the character in your story. Uh, you can do it with, you know, social studies or history, you know, how did you know George Washington actually feel as he was crossing the Delaware, you know, like freeze in 3, 2, 1, and then have them pose like him. And when you embody some of these characters, and you can do inanimate objects too, um, you know, but when you embody these characters and you embody these things and these situations, you can really start to think a little bit more deeply about what's going on. And so that can be really uh just a quick but very powerful couple of strategies to use.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and none of and none of them involve the teacher having to showcase their artistic abilities. That is so true. Yeah. So it's like you don't have to worry about anybody judging your your stick figures on the board. So let's this leads us into something that you have specifically created for integrating creativity in the classroom, and that is SEAL, which stands for Social Emotional Artistic Learning. Yes, it sounds like a beautiful bridge between SEL and the arts and a way to put it together so that you can use this with your students on a daily basis. Um, tell us a little more about this program and what inspired you to develop it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so man, I remember it was back in like 2017 when the term SEL came to my district. I work in uh Amesbury, Massachusetts. And the beginning days of school, we all gathered in the auditorium and the I think it was the assistant superintendent or you know, one of those curriculum coordinators, I think it was curriculum coordinator, got up on the stage and she started talking about SEL and how we're going to do everything through the lens of SEL. And, you know, I was one of the teachers that was kind of rolling my eyes in the back of the room and going, okay, what are you trying to shove down our throats now? You know, what are you gonna tell us about now and then totally drop off later? You know, okay. So you get what I'm saying, Eric.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. What is the flavor of the week?
SPEAKER_02:Yes. What is absolutely? But I have to say that when she started talking about all the different competencies, the self-awareness, the social awareness, the self-management, the relationship skills, um, the responsible decision making, every time she would talk about them, I was like, huh, she wants us to do this. That goes with the arts. You want to talk about, you know, uh relationship building, let's have a drum circle. You know, you want to talk about uh self-management. We can we can draw, we can listen to certain types of music to just manage ourselves. And so with every competency that she was talking about, I was thinking, oh, I got this. I am gonna really rock this. And so that school year, I took that as like a license to just experiment with my then fourth graders. And we had, oh my gosh, a blast. I have so many great like pictures and lessons that came out of that school year because we did some really, really amazing things in the classroom. And that particular winter, um, it was the following year, um, I was hosting a winter retreat, teacher art retreat. I had been doing um summer teacher art retreats for years, and I was doing my first winter one. It was an overnight retreat, so much fun. And so I decided to make that one centered around arts and social emotional learning. And as I started to bring those ideas to the teachers, they were just like, oh my god, this is so amazing! This is wonderful. And so that's what slowly became social emotional artistic learning. And now I have an entire online course called SEAL Teacher Academy that um teachers can take and learn all of these amazing things, and um that they themselves go through a lot of these experiences themselves because it is so teacher-centered for them to get inspired so that they can then bring it back to their classroom and be inspiring for their students as well.
SPEAKER_00:That's amazing. That's great. Wow, thank you. So let's talk about how you implement the components of SEAL in your classroom. Can you share an example of a classroom moment or project where SEAL made a noticeable impact on your own students' engagement or relationships?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so those those other um little strategies that I told you about, those definitely touch upon um social emotional skills. Um, I do remember I had a student, we'll call him Randy, um, but he he had like an epiphany during one of the um lessons that I did. I was doing like a watercolor in my classroom that we were doing watercolor in response to um some music that I was playing, and then they were gonna write a poem about it. So we're gonna tie in some literacy, um, some poetry writing, and then of course, this watercolor. And I wanted them while they were doing their watercoloring, I was determined to go around and kind of just talk to them about like, you know, how does this make you feel as you're as you're painting? Like to get them to um become a little bit more self-aware of the effect that the watercolor painting was having on them and then talk about what they were painting because it was a free paint. Um just to kind of get an idea of you know how are they doing in the classroom? What can we talk about? Get a little personal relationship too going. And I went over to this one boy, Randy, and I and I stooped down next to him and I said, So tell me about what you're painting. And he said, Oh, well, this is a painting of me and my dad, and we're sitting on a bench, and it's a nice day out, and then he put his painting. Paintbrush down and he started to cry. And I thought, oh gosh, what have I started? Because here's the thing: Randy was the kind of kid who would just like he had huge big emotions. And so he would cry at the drop of a hat. Some students didn't really know like how to handle him. They didn't know, you know, they didn't necessarily want to be his partner because they didn't know if he was gonna start, you know, kind of freaking out a little bit. And so I looked at him, I go, Randy, tell me a little bit more. And so he started telling me a little bit more about his dad and how he missed him and how you know he hasn't seen him for many, many years. And that conversation that came out of the watercolors gave us such a good point of connection, he and I, that it had so much um benefit as he continued on in the school year. I told him, you know, okay, well, how about since you love this painting that you did, let's keep it. Why don't you put it somewhere really, really special in the classroom or in your binder? I think he chose to put it in like the slide thing on the cover of your binder. And he loved that idea. And I followed up with a guidance counselor, of course. Um, but I'm telling you, after that day, he was just a little bit more open to working with other people. He was just a little bit more um less big emotions coming out all the time because it was almost like he had that in him and he needed to get it out at school in a safe way. And our little conversation, it was just such a pivotal moment for him to be able to really just get that out and feel like, okay, now someone kind of knows this, and I'm still safe, and I'm okay. And that was just a really um, that was just such a uh time where I thought, this is the kind of stuff that these kids need because you know, uh school is like a second home or a third home to so many of these kids. So for them to be able to be in a in our classroom and really genuinely feel safe and feel like they belong can be such a powerful thing for them to do well in school.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:We hear we you know, we hear a lot of with about keeping our schools physically safe places, yes, uh the things that are going on in the world, but you know, we can't lose in translation that our you know part of safety is also the emotional safety uh as well. So that's a that's a good thing to to consider with your with your SEAL program and with just SEL in general. Yeah. So as teachers, we there's very little time left for us.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:If we can we can give our students our creativity, and I find this is something that I battle with a little bit as an art teacher now because I'm creative and like to do things outside the classroom, but I'm giving a lot of that creative energy to my classroom during the day, as opposed to, I mean, even more so than when I taught fifth grade myself. So we have to kind of find ways to allow ourselves to be creative off the clock in the classroom as well. But also we need to honor our own needs as people, just because we are people. We're not we're not robots, there's no roboteachers here. Hopefully never. So how do you yeah, how do you personally stay creative as an as an educator, especially when the system itself, teaching itself, can feel kind of limiting all day. How can how do you try to stay creative as a you know personally and as an educator?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, because part of that definitely is it teachers always have the two sides, their teacher side, and then we need to have that personal side as well, which I know you speak to so many teachers about that, and I think that's such an important message for all of us to to really embody. And so, you know, for me, I have learned I just need to build it into my school day. It's as much for me as it is for my students. Um, and personally, I do try to play the piano every so often. I try to keep my fingers, you know, nimble and um play through a couple of songs every so often. I don't do it nearly as much as I really want to, but honestly, my um my joy and creativity has changed over the years, and I truly enjoy creating workshops, creating um, you know, updating the website, like taking that personal, that um the design elements and kind of like utilizing it that way. Um, I really enjoy um audio editing podcasts. I've been audio editing since I was, you know, like six years old with my Fisher Price tape recorder. Like it's just so funny how what you did when you were so young truly does become, you know, if you let it, if you allow your creativity to come out in its most authentic way, it really does. So, you know, I I made mixtapes with the best of them, turned into CDs, turned into digital audio, and now, you know, I'm publishing the the podcast and messing with the the the music and the audio and the clips, and I just absolutely love it. It's um yeah, so that's kind of that has become my uh creative outlet for me.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and that that's a it's a good point. Like I came about trying to do to to learn more about podcasting uh during the pandemic because I wanted a way to connect. And it is a creative outlet and getting able to talk with uh teachers and connect people across the country and even the world, um, that is a it is a way to to stay creative and to see education outside of your school environment, to realize there's a there's a bigger picture and many components that you don't you know necessarily see on a daily basis, but they exist and they're out there.
SPEAKER_02:That is so true.
SPEAKER_00:So, you know, I I have to keep the faith here that there are schools and there are places in our country that want to see schools or want to see teachers be creative and have the autonomy to create and meet their students' needs and nurture them from a social emotional perspective. So, for schools or districts that want to bring more arts integration, where should they start? And what is one mindset shift that could really open the door for that?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I like that because I think it does start with a a mindset shift, right? And the biggest shift is truly understanding, and I kind of think we all do, that the arts are not an add-on. Right. They really are not, they are so central to how so many of us learn, teachers, students, all ages. And what I love about the arts is that it's so naturally differentiated, and it can it just reaches anyone at their own point of entry, and then you can keep on going from there, you know, and having that understanding that it deepens learning, it enhances your lessons, um, it provides so many social and emotional benefits to both teachers and students. I mean, if you want happy teachers, let them be creative, right? Let them utilize some of these activities, these strategies, these approaches in with their students, you will have happy teachers and happy teachers are gonna make happy students. I mean, it even the studies show that it even helps with attendance rates because it's something that students and teachers are looking forward to because it's engaging and exciting. And so if you truly understand that, you just have to have an admin team who has the guts to really acknowledge that the arts can improve experiences for so many teachers and then just start. Start with a quick workshop. Get teachers to just try it out for themselves in their own, you know, teacher-centered workshop so that they can start to understand the benefits that they're they're they'll experience for themselves, and they're gonna want to bring that because that's how teachers are. They're they're awesome, right? They they experience something and they find value in it, and they just want to do it with their students like the next day if they can. So that's I think that's that could be a tagline.
SPEAKER_00:Happy teachers, happy students.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. That's that is my tagline on my admin page.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay. All right. We're there, we're there. Yeah. All right. So to get to this point, how can we as teachers advocate for more classroom autonomy and creative control of our teaching? And even when we are, you know, being pushed to take a more scripted or standardized approach.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so I'm a big advocate for sometimes you just gotta do it. Sometimes you just gotta close a door and do something that you think is gonna be enjoyable for your students, they're gonna really get something out of it, but then invite people in. When you're doing some of these things, invite the admin in. I did that once. I had my kids like enveloped in something that was um, you know, an arts-based activity. And I actually remember calling my administrator and going, hey, if you want to see these kids, they are on fire right now. I'm so excited about this. Um, she didn't show up, but that's okay. I invited her. But um, you know, invite the admin in and don't feel like, you know, you have to do creative things, you know, in the corner of the Friday before vacation only. Like it can and should be part of what you do. You owe that to yourself and to your students as well. And and invite parents too, or or get them, you know, email them and let them know about some exciting aha moment that your your your kids had, or keep some anecdotal notes that you can really share at conferences or meetings, and just you know, have some of these great stories and great um moments that you can really share. It really is all about sharing some of the good stuff that you have happening in your classroom.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, absolutely. So if you could give teachers one piece of advice about reclaiming creativity and the joy of teaching, no matter what curriculum they're handed, what would it be?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I would say um it is possible. It really is. You know, I help teachers with this all the time, and I know it's possible. Um, and it really comes down to taking a good look at what you can and you can't control. And I know that you know all about this, Erin, because you talk about it in your book as well, right? So, for example, you can control the program or the curriculum or the pacing guide that you've been given, but you absolutely can learn simple ways to infuse creativity into those lessons to help make things come alive, right? You might not be able to control the students that you actually have in your classroom, right? But you can control the classroom culture that you establish for them and helping them with the behaviors and just your overall classroom management. And this is the kind of work that I love doing inside my group coaching program, the classroom reset. It's built for teachers who just really love teachers, but that spark has been missing. And I feel like, you know, we all teachers really deserve to get back to that first-year teacher feeling where you were excited and you wanted to just make a change in the world. And I really do believe that no matter where teachers are in their career, they can absolutely get that back.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. Elizabeth, where can our listeners go to learn more about SEAL, more about you, or to follow you online?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so you can go to the inspired classroom.com. That's my hub of everything. And um, I would love to invite your listeners to come listen to Enjoy Teaching Again, which is um a great podcast for teachers who just are looking for that little extra spark back into their daily teaching.
SPEAKER_00:All right. So, everyone, this is Elizabeth Peterson. You also have a free class for teachers, is that correct? I do, yes.
SPEAKER_02:If you go to the inspired classroom.com, you'll see a button where you can go ahead and click on that free class. And that actually is specifically about integrating the arts with SEL. Fantastic. Yes.
SPEAKER_00:All right, everyone. Thank you so much, Elizabeth. Thank you, Erin. Thank you, Elizabeth, for providing your insight on ways to integrate creativity into the classroom, even if you have a prescripted curriculum, prescripted lessons, things that ultimately feel like they're limiting your teacher autonomy, ways that we can practically be ourselves and keep our students uh engaged and excited about learning. You can learn more about Elizabeth at theinspiredclassroom.com as well as follow her on her social media channels at theinspiredclassroom. as well. Also, if you go to her website, you can access her free class, Three Ways to Integrate the Arts with SEL. Talk to you next time. That's all for this episode of the next chapter for teachers podcast. If you like what you heard, be sure to rate, subscribe, and leave a review. Join us next time when we turn the page to the future of the profession. Until then, remember to be different, but more importantly, be the difference. And I'll see you in the next chapter.