Educate and Evaluate

I hope you all are having a splendid week so far! It’s been so hot and humid lately. Luckily, it did storm a few nights ago, which is a relief since I rarely wash my car — oops.

Lately, I’ve been feeling so sporadic with wanting to start a bunch of new things, but no idea which to start first. Every feel that way? I’m just so excited and hopeful about the upcoming year. For those that have school starting back soon, I’m sure you’re facing what to pack or prepare for the new year. Sorry to bring it up! I actually miss the college experience, although, it wasn’t a wild one, haha.

*This is completely off topic, but I just logged on to Hulu to watch last night’s episode of Bachelor in Paradise, and the first five minutes: INSANE.

Okay, I can get back to my post, haha.

The Power of Educators

Anyway, isn’t it an exciting time, just a teensy bit? For those that have graduated and it’s your first year teaching, I can imagine how daunting it can be. [But, you got this!!] I took one education class just because I needed to fill a requirement. What I realized: That’s a definite nope from me! There were a bunch of reasons why I didn’t like the class, but it definitely ruled out a teaching career for me.

For those that have gotten their teaching degree, I give you lots of props. I don’t understand how you get through the lesson plan — that assignment was too repetitive for me! Not to mention, me teaching as a whole would be disastrous.

I mean, as teachers and educators, the power is in your hands to educate the next generation, to springboard them for further success. That’s an immense role and we should figure out the best way to approach and teach them.

Listen and Learn

For the past year, I’ve become a big fan of podcasts. I don’t leisurely listen to them as much as I’d like, but I have been trying to be more proactive to listen to them even more. I love Jana Kramer’s podcast and I really enjoy listening to TED Talks at the moment. Both are meant for different things, but they provide helpful insights and perspectives.

Jana’s podcast focuses on relationships, based on her own marriage, to help people with their relationship between them and their spouse. I need a bit of her bluntness and honesty in my life, too.

I don’t really know how to describe TED Talks, but they definitely are set for a more professional setting. You all probably are better at describing them than I am since they’re pretty well-known. They cover so many topics so you can’t help but just go down the rabbit hole with them! I love listening to their talks because they’re just incredibly inspiring to listen to whenever you do.

For those going back to school as teachers, especially those that are teaching little ones, I found this podcast to be helpful whenever a student asks you about a taboo topic.

I am a contributor to the site, Smash Notes, so it’s a pretty cool opportunity! In case you want to give it a listen, here it is. Don’t worry, there are some show notes in the form of Q&A if you don’t have time to listen to it. It’s about 13 minutes or so, not too long of a podcast as a whole.

The podcast not only gives advice to teachers on how they can educate their students about taboo topics, but for us as well. We all have had encounters with children at some point in our lives. They’re often so innocent when it comes to asking questions, and sometimes they’re uncomfortable topics that we’d rather feed them another sweet than to answer!

This is not a sponsored post, [but how cool would that be?!] Smash Notes offers a variety of podcasts, so maybe you’ll find a podcast that’s already has notes written for you to follow along! If not, you can always request a podcast series for the site to include.

What We Can Do

Despite not being a teacher, there’s still so much that we can teach and learn from one another. There is a vast amount of information out there, and no humanly way for us to know it all. It’s refreshing to learn something new or to have the opportunity to teach someone about what they’re curious about.

What happens if a child asks you about a taboo topic? Would you find a way to educate the individual or shy away from the subject? Luckily, that hasn’t happened to me yet, but after listening to that podcast, I will consider how to approach the situation if it ever happens to me.

I think one point from the podcast that has really stuck with me is if they can’t ask their parents or teachers about a topic, how else will they learn about the subject in a controlled, not tainted, way? If they aren’t allowed to ask you any questions, you bet they’ll seek other sources to fuel their curiosities — only, they may not be the best resources that the curious mind stumbles upon.

Our role as an educator in life is to teach those that have yet to learn, not shy away from the conversations that become too tough or complicated. Take this as an opportunity to educate them. You’ll never realize the impact you’ll have when you do.

Although I will admit, my cousin is now in high school and it feels like she knows way more than I ever did whenever I was her age!

Maybe the dynamics have changed now, but we all need to learn in life, right? Hope you enjoyed the podcast like I did and consider this little food for thought idea.

Hope everyone else has a wonderful week! Do you listen to any podcasts?