#55: Q&A. Help! I get ZERO support, advice, or mentorship from my leaders around the challenging behaviours in my class. [A SNEAK PEAK INTO THE PRIVATE PODCAST]

It is a bonus episode , and the reason I've done this bonus episode is because inside of That'll Teach Em , which is my comprehensive classroom management course that is now enrolling for the 2024 intake , I have a private podcast and in that private podcast I am doing a weekly Q&A episode as well as uploading all of the lesson materials to listen to on the go ,

and I have done a Q&A this week that doesn't actually relate to the learning . It's something that I found really valuable to talk through , and I know that it'll be something that's really valuable for all of you as well .

So I thought that , as a little bit of a bonus for the week , a little bonus episode in the the Unteachables podcast world , I would just upload that here and you can listen to it as well and enjoy it . Let me know what you think .

I know that it's going to be really valuable , especially for those of you who have had this experience in the past , which is a bit of a sticky one , when you feel like you are at a school with zero support , zero mentorship , and you are craving any kind of support and you're just not getting it .

I also tell a bit of a story about one of my old mentors who was rubbish when I was first teaching not even first teaching , I was still in my teacher training and how I kind of flipped that and learned from the negative . Okay , wonderful people , enjoy and I will see you at the normal time next week .

Hello brilliant teachers , Welcome to That'll Teach them , the private podcast , and if you are listening to me right now , it means that you are a part of the Unteachables Academy team and a student of That'll Teach them . I am celebrating you . You're a trailblazer , a changemaker and a future leader of classroom management .

What an absolute joy it is to have you here on this journey as you sharpen your classroom management skills and learn how to calmly and confidently reduce , respond to and resolve challenging classroom behaviours . Let's head into some learning . Hello wonderful teachers , Welcome to your first Q&A episode for That'll Teach in the Private Podcast .

What this Q&A session is going to be all about is just me . I think it's pretty explanatory , but me answering a question , but using the content that we have learned so far to answer that question . So we're kind of applying what we've learned along the way into different circumstances to make it easier for us to then really hardwire those skills .

So everything in That'll Teach them this year is really strategically there to make sure that this course isn't something that you just kind of throw away and forget . It's a couple of tools , a couple of strategies that you forget about in a week's time .

This is something that I really want to use to hardwire your skills for the rest of your career , and these Q&A episodes are going to be really vital , not just for the person who's asked this question , but for all of us to be listening to . It's kind of like just putting things into practice .

So what I envision for this is that you know , either you can ask me a question inside of the That'll Teach Him community or privately through Instagram or my email , whatever you want to do , or we can even jump on a Zoom .

We can record talking through the question Think about it as like almost a free mentorship session and we can upload that discussion and people can hear us talking through whatever sticky situation has popped up during the week .

So if you are here for that , if you want to ask me a question , if you want to jump on a call and talk through that question , then just jump into the community and let me know as we go through . Obviously , I'm not going to be able to do all the questions in this format , but the ones that I can , it'd be a lot of fun .

So onto this Q&A episode . You're probably thinking well , we haven't actually learned anything yet because the course has not started . It starts on the 8th of April . The first sub module gets released , so obviously there's nothing really to talk about . Yes , I thought that as well .

I didn't think I'd be releasing a Q&A episode this early , but the reason I have is because I did get a question this week from one of you that's already enrolled into That'll Teach them . We haven't closed enrollments yet , so there is still space for more people to come in .

But I had a question this week and can I just also say how exciting and inspiring it is that I've already seen so many of you in the community introducing yourself , sharing your stories , knowing a little bit more about you .

It is so incredibly exciting and inspiring to be able to stand by you in your practice , metaphorically speaking and be able to support you , to support your students , to support your teachers . It's really , really exciting , Anyway .

So the question reads it's actually not a question , to be honest with you , it's more of a statement , and I did ask her if it was okay for me to respond to it on this podcast and I thought it was a really important one to talk about .

So , shout out to Michelle , this is for you and I'm so excited to be able to answer this question in this way for you . Again , not a question , it was more of a statement . But she said that'll teach him can't start quick enough .

I wouldn't even call myself a new teacher , but I am drowning in behavior and whenever I reach out for help and I'm not shy in doing so I'm really keen to learn and improve . My head of department always ums and ahs , makes excuses and has never actively observed me , supported me or really answered any questions around classroom management .

I am so happy to be a part of that'll teach them and the community to finally feel like I'm not alone . Michelle , I need to say right now that you are definitely not alone and it's not just because you've joined that'll teach them . It's because this is something that is so common . I've experienced it myself .

I have had so many people reaching out and expressing these same concerns about the support they're getting in their school , or lack thereof Teachers who are so open and willing and ready to accept whatever support they can .

They want to implement new strategies , they want to take that into their classrooms and do amazing things , but they're not getting anything from the people around them . It is so common . I have always said and this is the reason I do the work that I do it should not be a stroke of luck that you get into a school that has appropriate support .

It should be a given . It should be something that is really closely monitored by the department . Like , do these teachers have appropriate supports in their school ? And I'm not talking about just new teachers , even though that is a really important thing for us to be focusing on . I am talking about all teachers .

No matter how experienced we are , we still need that support so that that head teacher that you're talking about , the head of department you're talking about when I found this throughout my career right . When somebody ums and ahs about things , when they make excuses about things , when they never really proactively go into observe and support .

What this says to me is that , just like you are feeling right now that you are out of your depth of behavior , you don't have support with behavior , you're not sure about what to do with behavior . That is true of the people who are also supposed to be supporting us in leadership positions .

Just because somebody gets into a leadership position does not mean that they naturally and automatically are able to support the teachers around them with classroom management .

I think a lot of people get into leadership positions out of their depth and they're not too sure what to do and how to support the people that are , you know , looking up to them and expecting more from them .

And it's a massive flaw in our system where the leaders I think that because we're so short on teachers , people get into leadership positions they're not trained in leadership and they're also not trained properly in classroom management . So it's like this perfect storm where we have schools full of people who can't support each other .

They don't know enough about classroom management , they don't know enough about behavior , so they've got people who are desperate for support and they can't provide that support . They don't have the means to do that and now I'm not making excuses for your head of department , by the way .

It is on the shoulders of our leaders to be able to stand up and say you know what ? I have staff below me and they are not equipped to deal with the challenges that they're facing in the classroom . I'm not equipped to support them with that because I don't have the skills myself .

I need to go out and I need to find myself the resources to be able to support them in the best way that I can , instead of burying my head in the sand . So I am not making excuses .

I am just speaking to this massive gap in our system where we're expecting teachers to go in and be mentored by people who were teachers very recently , who also didn't get training classroom management . So it's like this self-fulfilling prophecy of not being supported . And I wanted to talk about one of my experiences During my teacher training .

I did a three-month prac at a school and my mentor teacher was garbage , and I do not say that lightly . I do not sit there and say that any teacher is crap . I have a lot of compassion for teachers . I hold all teachers to high regard and want to support teachers , but this mentor was shocking .

The second I walked into that staff room , she said to me everyone's really busy in here . Claire , you need to be not seen and not heard . I want you to go and sit in the library the whole time . So the whole time . Three months I sat in the library by myself . I wasn't allowed into the English staff room .

I taught her classes , but I you know how , when you're a prac teacher , you're not supposed to be in a class by yourself . You're supposed to be mentored the entire time . You're supposed to be there Someone's guiding you . I was in that lesson by myself . Most of the time she wasn't there to observe me .

When I was observed by her and I was desperate for feedback I've always wanted to improve , to grow , to do the best that I can she'd say to me oh , I don't know , I'm learning a lot off you , you know . Oh , I think it's okay . So I was thirsty for more . I was thirsty for knowledge and for improvement .

This was my career that I was going into and I knew , like we're not perfect teachers , I could go in there now and someone can have something to say about my practice that I need to improve on , and I'm open and willing to accept that . But she was not willing to give me any feedback and during one of the lessons she even got into her car .

I had one of her tough year eight classes . She got into her car and drove away and got her nails done . She'd frequently go into the English staff room while I was teaching her class to redo her lipstick or have conversations with people in the staff room . It was awful . I was lonely , I was miserable , but I was also so confused by what I was doing .

I didn't feel successful , I didn't feel confident . It was a horrible experience . But that experience has taught me so much in the negative about what I don't want to do and the kind of teacher that I did want to be and the kind of leader that I wanted to be .

So I think seeing that in action and seeing her in action in that leadership and mentor role has really shaped the person that I am today and the way that I want to lead you and the way that I want to support you . So , also , looking at the leadership examples that you have in your school , if you're feeling like you're not supported , let that fuel you .

You can go out there . Michelle , you're going to be going into that or teach them and you're going to be learning so much . I've had people in that or teaching that have gone on to lead classroom management in their schools , no matter how long they've been teaching for .

So I want you to let these experiences that you're having right now , in this moment , fuel you to be the leader and the teacher that you are destined to be in the future , Because , by the sounds of things , you really really want to , just like I did back when I was being , you know , mentored by this teacher , you're thirsty for all of the knowledge , all of

the skills , all of that professional development that you can possibly get your hands on . So I'm really happy to be able to support you in that . I'll teach them .

And , for everybody else , if you two are sitting there and learning in the negative and having experiences with leaders that are less than ideal , let that fuel you to be a leader in the future , and I'm not talking about school leader or , particularly in you know , an official capacity . You can be a leader with the people around you , within your classroom .

You don't have to be an official leader . If that's not what your , what your bag is , if that's not your jam , that is also okay , but let that fuel you to be the person who supports those around you in a deeper and more meaningful way .

I'm going to leave it there because I did say 10 minutes around you and it's hit 10 minutes , but I hope that's been helpful .

That was my first Q&A answer for the That'll Teach them 2024 cohort and I am so excited to actually bring you more of these when it's number one , a proper question and number two , when it can actually be applied to the learning that we're doing within the course , because that's where the magic will happen Us starting to apply things , us starting to really

hone our craft , us starting to really start to . How many times can I say start to See ? I'll just waffle on for the next 10 minutes now . Us starting to hardwire what we're going to for our entire career . Have a lovely week that'll teach them team and I will see you next time .