Bloom Where You're Planted

[00:00:03.10] NARRATOR: Welcome to Corwin's Teacher to Teacher podcast with host Carol Pelletier Radford. Carol is an experienced classroom teacher and university educator, founder of Mentoringandaction.com And author of four bestselling professional books for teachers.

[00:00:17.24] She believes the best form of professional learning happens when teachers engage in authentic conversations and share their wisdom. In every episode, Carol and her guests, share stories about pivotal moments in their careers, successful classroom strategies, and personal actions they take to minimize stress and stay healthy.

[00:00:34.88] The Teacher to Teacher podcast is a place to engage in authentic conversation and reflection with experienced educators. We hope these conversations will energize you, keep you inspired, and remind you why you chose to become a teacher.

[00:00:47.21] [CALM MUSIC]

[00:00:49.17] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Welcome to season three of the Teacher to Teacher podcast. I am your host, Carol Pelletier Radford. I'm so happy to be part of the conversation with two very experienced educators today.

[00:01:03.33] The theme for season three of Teacher to Teacher is based on the book that I wrote titled, Teaching with light, 10 lessons for finding wisdom, balance and inspiration. And each of the 10 episodes for this season mirror the 10 lessons in the book. So, today's lesson is lesson two, bloom, where you're planted.

[00:01:28.84] And I'd like to welcome our two guests, Vanessa and Tammy. So, let's begin by having you each introduce yourselves to our listening audience. So, Vanessa, who are you?

[00:01:42.75] VANESSA VAKHARIA: Oh, my god!

[00:01:43.53] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: What are you doing? What's your current role in education? And tell us, your teaching experience.

[00:01:53.14] VANESSA VAKHARIA: Hi, my name is Vanessa and I am a math therapist.

[00:01:57.49] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: I love that.

[00:01:58.33] [LAUGH]

[00:01:59.86] VANESSA VAKHARIA: Education is helping teachers heal their own math trauma and helping them help their students heal their math trauma. So, I have a book coming out with Corwin. It's called, Math Therapy. I have a podcast called Math Therapy, where I speak to adults about their history with math trauma.

[00:02:18.98] And I have a tutoring center in Toronto where we tutor about 1000 students a year and help them work through their negative relationships with math, in order to heal one on one.

[00:02:30.22] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: I love that since I am one of those math students that had a lot of trauma around math all through school, and I wish that my teachers had this book and my own training for. It just brings it right back like sweaty palms and the whole thing of being the student that couldn't do math. That I was. I was not that student.

[00:02:56.94] So did you teach, Vanessa? What's your teaching background?

[00:03:00.30] VANESSA VAKHARIA: I taught in the grade 10 high school classroom for about two months of my life. I very quickly realized that wasn't the place. Since we're talking about blooming where we're planted, that was not the place for me to bloom. I really don't like red tape. I don't like being able to not do things that I feel are aligned and authentically right for the student.

[00:03:22.12] Just because there are administrators in place or authority or anything that will let that happen. And I realized very quickly that my role was to work one on one with students in order to really cultivate a healing relationship with math, so.

[00:03:35.16] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: I'm so glad you found out early enough. And I'm sad in some ways because we don't want to lose teachers that are so energetic like you. But I love what you said like find. You stay in education. You didn't leave. You found that place to bloom. For you to bloom. And we'll talk more about that.

[00:03:55.57] Tammy, please introduce yourself to our listeners and what your current role.

[00:04:01.78] TAMI DUFAULT-TOOMB: Thanks, Carol. I'm Tammy Dufault-Toomb. I work out in Oregon at a regional office, the Linn Benton, Lincoln, ESD and I co-lead a new teacher mentor program, and my colleague, Cindy Jordan and I work together to support the mentors in our regions. We have 12 districts and this is our third year.

[00:04:27.05] We started the program from scratch with the help of Carol, by the way,

[00:04:31.93] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Thank you for that acknowledgment and shout out. I love working with you. And did you teach? What was your teaching experience?

[00:04:39.02] TAMI DUFAULT-TOOMB: I did. I taught for 26 years at the elementary level, grades K through five. And I've been really fortunate in my career to get to do a lot of different things, which I think led to the longevity.

[00:04:53.65] This is my 40th year coming up, and so, I taught for 26 years and then, I moved into a literacy specialist role and became a mentor and an instructional coach and now into my new role.

[00:05:08.55] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Right, the new role. So, you both bring. So, this podcast is Teacher to Teacher and I love bringing two teachers together who have very different experiences. But the goal of this conversation is to share our wisdom and have our listeners listen to see what fits for them and what they can take away that they can use.

[00:05:29.50] But I always like to start with a story, and the lesson is bloom where you're planted. And I asked listeners like, what does that mean to you. I know what it means to me. I wrote about it in teaching with light. But, Vanessa, share what that means to you. Bloom where you're planted.

[00:05:48.75] And a story from your past or present that has us understand what you learned or pivotal moment that can help us understand how you've grown over the years.

[00:06:04.20] VANESSA VAKHARIA: I think when you say bloom where you're planted, it's reminding me of a quote I heard the other day, which was, you can't influence. You can't control outcomes, but you can influence them. And I think in a lot of situations, we can't necessarily leave our environment. We can't control our environment.

[00:06:25.32] I will tell the story in a second about me as a student. I was in school. I couldn't exactly leave school. But as we as we grow up and as we become an adult and we get to know ourselves better and we learn what our coping tools are and what resources are available to us.

[00:06:40.43] It really helps us navigate situations in which we can't necessarily change the external circumstances, but instead we can use our own strength and resilience to literally bloom in a circumstance that might seem adverse at the time, but ends up being so healing for us, because what challenges us often is what leads to real growth and change.

[00:06:59.34] So, that's kind of what I think of. And I guess the story I always default to is when I was a student in grade 11, I hated math. And I just wanted to be a rock star. And marry Keanu Reeves, which I still, as everyone knows.

[00:07:15.69] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Yes.

[00:07:16.83] VANESSA VAKHARIA: Still my goal to this day, I'm just waiting for that phone call. And I was always told that I wasn't a math person. People who looked like me didn't do math. People who talked like me didn't do math. No one really tried to support me. I went to a very academic high school and my teachers were just kind of like waiting for me to get out of their classrooms.

[00:07:35.05] So, I failed once. I failed twice. And then I did it. I did grade 11 math in summer school the third time, and I ended up with a 57. And my parents were like, oh, my god, you're going to fail out of school and I don't know what's going to happen to you. So, they sent me to what was called an alternative school back then, and it was in an office building with 100 kids.

[00:07:56.23] And we took elevators to class, as I said, and we call teachers by their first names. And it was such a different vibe because we all. We had nothing in common except that all of us were labeled misfits and no one believed in us.

[00:08:09.07] So, it was a really cool experience because we were in this building where the only adults in like many of our lives who had ever believed in us were the teachers in that school. They were like. They were kind of like, it's not that you can't learn and it's not that you're not smart enough for like the traditional way of learning.

[00:08:27.46] It's that you need and deserve a different approach to learning. So, I walked into my grade 12 math class and I said to my teacher, Eva, who I'm still best friends with to this day, I said, you're going to have a lot of trouble with me. I'm not a math person. And she was like, what? And I was like, I'm not a math person.

[00:08:43.60] And she just looked at me and said the words that changed my life, which were that's not a thing. And.

[00:08:49.89] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Love it.

[00:08:50.88] VANESSA VAKHARIA: Then she told me to stop disrupting the class and to sit down. And I ended up I ended up with a 98 in grade 12 math.

[00:08:57.34] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: I love it!

[00:08:58.09] VANESSA VAKHARIA: Yeah, and it was just. That's obviously way before I went to teachers college. But I think in that moment, I mean, that changed my entire.

[00:09:06.39] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: That's a pivotal moment for that teacher, actually. Saying that to you and believing it and not just saying and believing it. And that's what I hear in you that changed it. And now, look at you. As I read your description, the Lady Gaga of math.

[00:09:25.67] So, this math therapy and this book is the exact opposite of how you felt when you were a student. So, congratulations! And yay! Everybody's like, uh, I want to have that experience. Tammy, so, what is bloom where you're planted? When you heard that, what does that mean to you and how does that apply to you. What's going on with you, your story.

[00:09:52.97] TAMI DUFAULT-TOOMB: Well, first of all, Vanessa, I am completely inspired by your story. I want to believe that in the 26 years in the classroom that I did that for my students, that they felt that way and felt that they belonged and that they were connected and that they had the ability that I believed in them to be able to do what you were talking about.

[00:10:20.26] As I mentioned earlier, I have done a lot of things in education, and I think one of the biggest moves I made was three years ago moving from a what would be the traditional school district setting into a regional setting. And it was like going to a foreign country. I had to learn a new language. I had to learn a new structure and system and people.

[00:10:44.96] And I realized, you know what? You've done this so many times, Tammy. It doesn't matter if you're in a new school, you're in a new district. Wherever you go. For me to bloom, I have to find the people who share the same passion and purpose that I do, because those are the people that keep me going when things are hard.

[00:11:05.78] And one of those people was Carol, coincidentally, because I was starting a mentoring program from scratch. And so, I reached out to everybody and anybody. I always go in with the premise that I have something to learn, and I look for those people who have done the work and have something to share, and then I try to take it and apply it to my context.

[00:11:29.36] And so, blooming is really me taking some responsibility, right? To create some conditions that I know are going to help me be successful. I know that I am someone who operates best when I have a lot of autonomy, so this was a perfect match for me. I got to have a blank slate and say create something and that provided a need for me.

[00:11:55.66] I also work with an incredible group of people that are super supportive and are constantly. We're looking for ways to connect our work in order to support our districts at a high level. And I think having that kind of collaboration can really be incredibly supportive when you talk about those conditions, right? To thrive.

[00:12:19.56] Feeling like you're alone. And I think I kind of connected with Vanessa on that, maybe feeling a sense of loneliness in that high academic school and not feeling as successful as peers. I think that can really lead to not feeling valued, not feeling appreciated, to feel like you can't do something because there's no one there to support you.

[00:12:47.20] And that's really what has drawn me to mentoring, to really help provide the support for mentors in our region to keep that from happening for our novice teachers. They're not in their classrooms by themselves, crying at their desks every day. We don't want them quitting, we don't want them feeling like this isn't something they can do.

[00:13:10.95] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: So, a pivotal moment when you transition to this bigger organization, if you will, with 12 districts. Was there a moment when you felt that confidence shift? I know you reached out and got help. And what did. What happened when you went, I can do this or.

[00:13:34.05] Because it's a different kind of leadership beyond our own classroom with the students and then in a school with your colleagues, it's always about the adults. I would always say, I have no problem teaching the kids. It's the adults that are driving me crazy. And those are our colleagues. And I can hear the listeners laughing because people relate to that.

[00:13:56.18] But what challenge did you overcome, I guess, that resilient piece to feel like a leader designing your own program. What happened.

[00:14:08.79] TAMI DUFAULT-TOOMB: I think one strength that I have is that I'm willing to just dive in and I kind of fake it till I make it, so to speak. I just keep going until I feel like, OK, I think I have this. And so, I'm a learner. I just when you talk about quotes, the one that inspires me and it's in my office, who dares to teach must never cease to learn.

[00:14:36.31] So, I read a copious amount of books. I went to a lot of trainings. I networked with other people and with every new thing I was learning, my confidence was growing. But I think the most powerful thing we did for our program was empathy interviews with new teachers and.

[00:14:55.35] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Ah!

[00:14:56.88] TAMI DUFAULT-TOOMB: Of color. Because when you think about how do we invite everybody to be successful, we have to consider who the everybody, right? Are and. Or is. And so, those were profound for me, hearing the voices of new teachers and what's hard for them and what really keeps them from being successful.

[00:15:25.43] What are those barriers. I felt confident in the design of our program because the program was built using the information from the people that would impact the most.

[00:15:37.34] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Love it, love it. So, I hope the listeners are taking this in. This is a practical way. We just ask the new teachers. Now, so, Vanessa, what do you think about that?

[00:15:47.21] Would that have made a difference in your two months if there was a mentoring program and maybe it wouldn't have, but like what are you hearing that Tammy saying that fits for you as a new teacher or a student? How are you hearing this?

[00:16:03.35] VANESSA VAKHARIA: Well, Tammy, I love all the work you're doing. I think it's amazing. And I just am like empathy interviews. Wouldn't that be nice if we did that for our students. And I think the big thing that we're probably really aligned on is. And I guess it's interesting that it's so new is.

[00:16:20.53] Lisa McConkey, who is like one of my favorite people, brain based learning expert, always says that a student's cognitive relationship. Oh, sorry, a student's emotional relationship with learning is foundational to their cognitive relationship with learning. And in what Tammy saying that's exactly it.

[00:16:37.67] It's like I think we really for so long have neglected the emotional component of being a teacher, of being a student, of being in relationship. We're constantly trying to develop like protocols and curriculum and content and all of this. But there's nothing as powerful as how someone is feeling.

[00:16:55.82] There's nothing as real as that and no amount of yeah, no amount of anything ever will detract from that. So, thinking about I don't really think this applies to me as a teacher, honestly. For me, I really just felt misaligned with my purpose. I was like, my role is not in the classroom.

[00:17:13.15] I really think it's important for all of us to realize that we all have a role when it comes to helping our students thrive and develop into the amazing humans they're meant to be. And my role was something else. And I just I just felt that misalignment like in my literal soul. So, I don't think it was there was nothing wrong. I was just like, this is not what I meant to do.

[00:17:34.06] I meant to do something else. But I think just as to what Tammy is saying, I think it's so amazing you're doing that work. And some might say you're like the Brené Brown of education.

[00:17:43.21] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Yes, thank you, Lady Gaga, for.

[00:17:46.79] VANESSA VAKHARIA: No, but for real.

[00:17:48.25] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Yes.

[00:17:49.47] VANESSA VAKHARIA: For real. I mean, Bernie's always talking about vulnerability. And how do we actually bring that out. Because.

[00:17:54.76] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Yes.

[00:17:55.27] VANESSA VAKHARIA: When new teachers are scared to be vulnerable and to say, hey, I'm struggling, I need help, what they're going to do instead is going to their trauma responsive flight or freeze and get out of there and to prevent that, we embrace that, so.

[00:18:08.77] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Thank you, thank you. So, for our listeners, I would invite you to reflect on what bloom where you're planted means to you. And for homework, I guess. Think about what your creative gifts are. Where are you aligned? Sometimes we can't leave and we can't move and sometimes we can. So we have to make that decision.

[00:18:33.44] Is this a time I should leave? I've taught for two months. I'm not aligned. Or is this a time that I stay and I find the conditions and I find the mentors and the people that can help me. That's the question. And I think we all have to look at what our gifts and passions are and what helps us thrive. But it starts with us like we have to do that.

[00:18:57.53] My story. There's going to be a link in the description for this podcast. My story is called the year after the school burned down, and I wrote about being on a sabbatical and coming back during my sabbatical. The entire school burned to the ground. I was an elementary teacher in my classroom.

[00:19:19.17] I lost everything, all the elementary teachers are gasping, all the stuff we have and what I did to overcome it. And It was the most powerful teaching year I ever had because I learned how to teach with nothing. And that's that relationship. So, if you want to hear my story, it's in the description with the link. So, let's move on.

[00:19:43.02] Another question that I have for both of you relates to what teachers and listeners can do like what's practical. We always want to apply, we want to learn. But then I want to take something that I can actually use in my classroom or in my well being or so and so.

[00:20:01.96] So, Vanessa you are an author. You have so much going on. You have podcasts, share a little bit about your therapy book, which I'm dying to read and what you're doing. Like what's practical that our listeners could actually do.

[00:20:21.41] VANESSA VAKHARIA: I know we want. We all want practical things to do in the classroom. And it's a double edged sword because at the same time we have no time to actually do anything else. So, math therapy is really about the emotional component we're talking about.

[00:20:35.76] It is about diving into the feelings and past traumas that are showing up in your students who are in front of you. And that are also probably showing up for you as an educator, regardless of whether you teach math or not. I really believe that all of us have micro-trauma when it comes to math and school in general.

[00:20:57.75] So, I think if I'm going to offer practical advice at this moment, I'm not going to give us an activity to do and I'm not going to be like download this resource. I think my call to action would be that the only way we can truly see our students and understand what they need is if we truly see ourselves and understand what we need.

[00:21:26.15] And I think one of the most powerful things we can do as educators and this is work I'm constantly trying to do and finding very, very difficult is to understand what our past traumas and triggers are that we're bringing like I'll say, into the classroom, but really into our lives. We have all been through so much as adults and.

[00:21:50.17] Often the way we. The lens through which we view our students or the lens through which we view ourselves, as teachers, comes from that past trauma.

[00:21:58.10] And we're unable to see creatively and clearly because we're seeing out of fear, out of fear of repeating those patterns, out of fear of passing our anxieties onto our students, which prevents us from taking risks in the classroom. There's so much there.

[00:22:13.25] So, I would actually say the best thing you could do if you wanted to be like, I'm going to go do something right now is I would write out your. I call it in math therapy. I call it your math story. But if you don't want to do that, I would write out your school story. Who are you as a student or teacher and how did you get to where you are?

[00:22:33.35] So, I would just free write, set a timer for 10 minutes. Write that out. My name is Vanessa and I teach blah, blah, blah. The way I got into teaching was blah, blah, blah. This is how I felt as a student. I want you to write that all out, and then I want you to look at it and see how much of that is an objective truth and how much of that is.

[00:22:56.00] You being mean to yourself making excuses for your achievements and not necessarily highlighting your accomplishments. It's so interesting to read our stories once they're written out. I heard a brain scientist talk about how we think 90,000 thoughts a day and only 10% of those are new thoughts.

[00:23:11.82] So, 81,000 thoughts that go through our head are just repeated narratives that we've been telling ourselves forever and ever. So, I would say to make this brief, write out your story and take a long, hard look at it. And so you can see what you've been telling yourself every single day and see if you might want to make adjustments to that.

[00:23:28.98] And it's a great place to start because until we celebrate how far we've come, it's really hard for us to feel confident and empowered in the classroom. And it's actually really hard for us to celebrate how far our students have likely come in their journey.

[00:23:42.89] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Thank you for that. I think what you're saying is so important, Vanessa, because it underlies everything we do in the classroom or in the mentoring programs. And it is that foundational piece that we don't articulate it. And you did that so well. It's not about the content. It's how our relationship to whatever we're doing.

[00:24:15.03] And I'm so happy to have you relate it that teachers and students are the same. I mean, we're all learners. We're all students. As Tammy said, she had to be a student to learn how to be a leader. So, thank you for that. I very much appreciate it.

[00:24:37.47] What do you want to share that people can bring into their work lives or however we want to say about the human condition? What makes sense for you in this conversation.

[00:24:50.21] TAMI DUFAULT-TOOMB: First of all, Vanessa, I am relishing that you're going first because typically I'm that person who gets called on. So, this has been incredible for me. And again, so inspired by you. I was just considering some work that we did last year and really understanding like preparing before we go into.

[00:25:15.22] Maybe conduct some difficult conversations, mentoring conversations. And Carol, actually in her mentoring and action book, has a mindful mentoring like how you approach dilemmas. And we talk about the assumptions and biases that you walk into a mentoring conversation with.

[00:25:37.61] And it makes me consider what you were saying like what were those traumas like what was your own school experience or your own teaching experience that is creating maybe an emotional response to something that you've seen in a classroom or that you're concerned about.

[00:25:57.16] And unpacking those before you actually go in to talk to a new teacher about how you can navigate that tricky situation. And so I appreciated you saying that. I think for me, there's a couple of things. It's one, being aware of how I'm showing up, right? Like what am I bringing in. Am I self-regulated in the moment.

[00:26:25.05] Am I having a bad day or what kind of energy am I giving off? I need to be in a good place if I'm going to support someone who is struggling? And I think the other is this idea of appreciation. And I just feel like educators do not get the appreciation, the applause that they deserve. And it can be really disheartening for them over time.

[00:26:53.82] And I was sharing earlier with some colleagues that I often when I'm in a classroom, I leave a note of appreciation or encouragement. You talked about Brené Brown. People are willing to be vulnerable. I think you acknowledge that. And you also bring forward what's positive and good, because negativity, bias is real.

[00:27:16.50] We can identify something negative in a tenth of a second. It takes us 12 seconds to identify something positive. And so I know educators can be really hard on themselves. And so, us understanding the impact we have because of our own assumptions and biases are trauma is one thing to consider, but also the impact we have by being the encouragers.

[00:27:44.28] By being the people who bring forward and bring to light what's good for teachers and students in our world.

[00:27:53.37] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Thank you. Thanks, Tammy. You're both leaders in the fields and the roles that you have aligned yourself with on purpose or maybe not so on purpose. In Tammy's case got invited to lead this program. So, as leaders and I struggle with this too, how do we fill our cup? How do we stay inspired?

[00:28:18.71] How. What do I turn to when I feel unstable or not sure that I can keep helping other people teach with light because I'm not feeling very light today and acknowledging that. And sometimes it's just not a trauma or it's a bad mood or it's something happened. I know, for me, I did.

[00:28:46.46] I completed yoga teacher training and that was very inspiring to me and an intentional practice. But I've discovered these little mudras that you could do with your hands and they only take like two minutes and it created just a pause. It broke the cycle of whatever negativity I was seeing in the moment and shifted it. And I could do it with my hands.

[00:29:12.17] And I really find it helpful. And I use that technique all the time. So, I'm going to go back to Tammy. What do you do when you have to fill your like, where do you turn? Is it music, art, a poem? Sometimes it's just like a little something that we need to do to keep us filled with the light or joy or whatever it is that we need to project when we're helping other people.

[00:29:44.35] So, what shows up for you?

[00:29:46.78] TAMI DUFAULT-TOOMB: Carol, I am so, so blessed in my life to be surrounded by encouragers. I have colleagues and friends and family who when I need a lift. In fact, right before this podcast, I said to my friends saying, I'm freaking out right now. And they sent words of encouragement, and I think that makes a big difference for me.

[00:30:18.17] I'm also like I mentioned, a really passionate reader. And so, I look to read people who inspire me. We talked about Brené Brown, talked about educators like Cornelius Minor, people who are doing work that really speaks to me. I do love quotes. I have a notebook full of quotes that I collect and use.

[00:30:41.75] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: You have one for us?

[00:30:43.11] TAMI DUFAULT-TOOMB: Do you have a quote? I don't off the top of my head, I wish I was like Vanessa. I could just read them verbatim, but I really just. I'm inspired by the people who are in this work and keep doing it like they believe in are hopeful and want to see change and are working every day to make that happen.

[00:31:09.53] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Thank you. Vanessa, your turn.

[00:31:12.97] VANESSA VAKHARIA: I am. I feel like I have learned a really hard lesson lately about. I know. We all know the saying. I don't know if I'll remember the exact quote, but how can you fill up someone else's cup if yours is empty. La, la, La. I feel that I learned a really hard lesson over the past few years about how true that quote is.

[00:31:33.80] And I think that my main, my inspiration has always been I got into mindfulness and meditation about 10 years ago, and there's a lot. That's a lot of what math therapy is for me, because everything we're talking about here is I personally think stuff that we should be teaching our students.

[00:31:50.56] Because I feel like it's so unfortunate that it is this late in life that I'm finally learning how to regulate my nervous system, learning that triggers are a real thing and can impact me physically. And when I'm impacted physically, I cannot give myself to like my work, all of these things. So, for me, the most useful tools have been mindfulness meditation. Breathwork.

[00:32:11.24] I love self-help. I will read any self-help book.

[00:32:14.94] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Love it. Me too.

[00:32:18.32] VANESSA VAKHARIA: Yeah, as Tammy was saying. Yeah, words of affirmation. In my book, I talk a lot about creating math formation. So, like math affirmations for students, helping them find mantras and really.

[00:32:31.34] I think if any way you can connect to a higher purpose, whatever that means for you like I'm not talking about like God or religion just literally for me, that's been such a big thing really like learning more about yoga, learning about all types of spirituality, connecting to alignment and the source of the universe and the planet.

[00:32:50.58] And like all of that combined, if I fall off of that for even like three days, I'm not in alignment like I am dysregulated and I think like. I just can't believe how little we talk about this or know about it.

[00:33:06.54] I feel it is one of the most unfortunate consequences of living in our world today that we have gotten so far away from our connection to the planet that we are just untethered and not really in our bodies. So, anyways, that's a whole other podcast.

[00:33:28.35] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Yes, yes. Let's do that one. All right, season four, we have our theme for season four. What you're both saying is so important. Again, it's back to that. Teaching with lighter acknowledging who we are. Like your activity, Vanessa, of what's our story. And we can change our story any time we want to.

[00:33:52.32] If we just look though, we have to be grounded. So, two influential authors in the teaching with a book that actually highlighted, Vanessa like Jon Kabat Zinn.

[00:34:05.91] VANESSA VAKHARIA: Love.

[00:34:07.71] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Wherever you go, there you are. Mindfulness meditation in everyday life and it's groundbreaking. He's done so much at UMASS medical and it's not woo woo anymore. It's medical before you go into a surgery this but we need to integrate it into education.

[00:34:28.21] It's in medicine now. I think your book with the math therapy you're doing great work, Vanessa. To integrate the human being into the math that it's not about the content necessarily. It's that relationship that we build. And the same with you, Tammy and the other book that Jon Kabat Zinn was a student of Thich Nhat Hanh.

[00:34:57.67] So, Thich Nhat Hanh work mindfulness and miracles of mindfulness and mindful eating and everything. So, I'm glad you mentioned the mindfulness and Tammy did too, with mindful teaching dilemmas like mentors going in that that whole process was created after I completed yoga teacher training. I'm like, we need to have a protocol.

[00:35:18.11] You can't just jump in and judge what this other person's doing until we know what we're bringing to the conversation. So, these are all inspirations for the three of us. So, thank you for that. So, winding down, I have two very short questions as we close. And I like to talk about change, our change in our thinking. I mean, education is change. Students are change. Everything.

[00:35:44.62] Change isn't necessarily bad, but we do need to acknowledge our shifts and what we see our awareness. So, Vanessa, I used to think this about education, math, I don't know, actually. And now I think this. What is a shift that has come over you over these years from being a math student? That it wasn't your thing to being a math guru. What changed?

[00:36:18.67] VANESSA VAKHARIA: OK, I think. I think what. Let me see if I can phrase this properly. But I think what I would say and if you don't resonate you can substitute the word school in for math. I used to think that math class was about learning math. But now I think it's about learning who we are and what we're capable of.

[00:36:42.17] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: I love it. Tammy, I used to think.

[00:36:46.79] TAMI DUFAULT-TOOMB: I used to think mentoring was just being the friendly teacher next door who gave you the copier number.

[00:36:55.40] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: That we can never get.

[00:36:57.41] TAMI DUFAULT-TOOMB: Can play a big part in creating a dynamic new cadre of educators moving forward.

[00:37:06.41] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Yay! Goosebumps from both of you. So, let's end with some good news. I was totally inspired by John Krasinski's show during COVID, SGN. And it was some good news.

[00:37:18.72] So, we don't take enough time to celebrate and acknowledge what's going on in your life, what you've noticed, what's some good news? Vanessa, what do you got?

[00:37:29.58] VANESSA VAKHARIA: Why do I have to go first for this one?

[00:37:31.73] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: You don't want to go first. All right, Tami, go first. Lot of pressure. This is so much pressure.

[00:37:38.33] TAMI DUFAULT-TOOMB: I'll go first.

[00:37:39.03] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: OK.

[00:37:40.74] VANESSA VAKHARIA: So she's mentoring.

[00:37:43.04] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: The mentor's modeling. OK, good.

[00:37:46.44] TAMI DUFAULT-TOOMB: I think one of our biggest wins was we had. I think 80 people participate in our new teacher mentor program last year, and I think 2/3 of them are coming back for a second year.

[00:38:02.05] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Yay! It's all about retention.

[00:38:04.11] TAMI DUFAULT-TOOMB: And it's a commitment because we have to do it virtually in the evenings after work from 5:00 to 6:30 and it's several times a month. And I I'm just so appreciative and grateful that people are willing to join us again.

[00:38:20.41] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Congratulations. That's all your leadership and your empathy interviews and all of that. All right, my dear.

[00:38:28.24] VANESSA VAKHARIA: Here's what we can celebrate. We can celebrate. We will celebrate two things here. The first is that my new book is coming out. It's coming out on September 2nd, which is Keanu Reeves birthday.

[00:38:40.58] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Oh, my god!

[00:38:41.77] VANESSA VAKHARIA: The second part of that we're celebrating is that Keanu is turning 60 and is somehow, hotter than he ever was ever in his.

[00:38:49.54] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: Oh, my gosh. I love this. Bring the humor back. Bring it on. I think we as educators, we need that. So, congratulations!

[00:38:58.12] VANESSA VAKHARIA: It's a fact. Go look up a picture of him right now.

[00:39:00.25] CAROL PELLETIER RADFORD: I believe you. I believe you. It's all good. Well, I want to thank you both. This was a great conversation, bloom where you're planted. I want to thank our listeners for tuning in to this Teacher to Teacher podcast. And I want to remind our listeners to stay inspired, stay healthy, and don't forget to share and celebrate your good news.

[00:39:28.03] So, thanks, Vanessa. Thanks, Tammy. It's awesome. And to our listeners, I hope you can join us on the next episode, which will be lesson three, be a lamp, not a mirror. OK. Thanks, everyone. Bye for now.

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[00:39:47.39] NARRATOR: Thanks everyone, for joining today's Teacher to Teacher conversation. We hope this time together energized you, inspired you, and reminded you why you chose to become a teacher. You can purchase any of Carol's books and any books mentioned in the podcast online at www.corwin.com Please, leave a review and share this podcast with your colleagues.

[00:40:07.05] Thank you for listening to the Corwin Teacher to Teacher podcast. A place to share teacher wisdom and engage in authentic conversations with experienced educators.

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