BROADCASTS.com

How do you develop confidence in your teaching when you\u2019re constantly hearing about everything you\u2019re doing wrong?

How do you know what you should and shouldn\u2019t be focusing on, and discern what\u2019s a good use of your time and what\u2019s not?

And most importantly, how can you be sure you\u2019re showing up as the person your students need you to be?

Answering these questions is a personal, lifelong journey, and I think the answers from my guest today will really get you thinking about how to answer those questions for yourself. I\u2019m talking with Gerardo Mu\xf1oz, a teacher of middle and high school social studies who was named Colorado\u2019s 2021 Teacher of the Year.

Gerardo is here to share how his teaching identity has been shaped over the years, and how he\u2019s learned to prioritize what matters most. He discusses how he\u2019s developed the confidence to live and teach authentically, and ways he supports his students in also truly being themselves:

\u201cI'm like every kid's hype man. I think that most of what we bring into our classrooms as teachers is the work that we've done on ourselves. That happens before we can work on our students. And so, I have to create a mindset in myself that says, \u2018Every single young person in this room is exactly who they are supposed to be\u2019. My job is not to change their personalities; my job is not to make them different humans. My job is to help them identify their strengths, and help them gain skills and behaviors that are going to amplify who they are.\u201d

Gerardo then shares how he was on the verge of quitting the profession back in 2017, and what practices from the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek program enabled him to not only stay, but to thrive. We talk about setting boundaries, and not being flattered into saying yes to everything.

When you know what you\u2019re truly, uniquely good at \u2014 what matters deeply to you and what really lights you up \u2014 it becomes much easier to say no to obligations that pull you away from those priorities.

Confidence and authentic teaching are inherently intertwined, and the work we do on ourselves is what helps us uncover what to focus on. As Gerardo says, \u201cOur lens becomes our practice, so we need to interrogate that lens.\u201d

Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.