Why Edify: The Teacher Wellness and Resilience Podcast - Strategies and Classroom Resources

99. What Makes a Good Cookie? A STRONG Teacher Report on Traditions, Perfectionism & Gratitude

What Makes a Good Cookie? A STRONG Teacher Report on Traditions, Perfectionism & Gratitude What makes a good cookie? Stick around — the answer might surprise you, and it says something real about how we find meaning in the middle of an ordinary school day. This is a STRONG Teacher Report — me practicing the STRONG Framework out loud, letting the chips fall where they may. No polish. Just practice. In this episode, I'm covering three parts of the framework: S — Successes: Our school's senior celebration tradition, and why rituals matter more than we give them credit for. (Also: my daughter is a senior this year. Bittersweet doesn't quite cover it.) T — Thoughts & Takeaways: The newsletter coming out this week is all about saying no to perfectionism — the N in STRONG. Research shows a perfectionist mindset is directly connected to teacher burnout. We need to talk about this. G — Gratitude: Students who said yes without hesitating. And a birthday cookie that arrived at exactly the right moment. If you're a teacher trying to build resilience without burning out — or just someone who wants to reflect on what's actually going right — this one's for you. 🔔 Subscribe so you don't miss the next STRONG Teacher Report. 📬 Get the STRONG Teacher Newsletter (free, every Wednesday): https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter/ [https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter/] 🎙️ Find the Why Edify Podcast wherever you listen: [https://rss.com/podcasts/why-edify/ [https://rss.com/podcasts/why-edify/] Why Edify | Excellence without exhaustion. jeremyajorgensen.com [http://jeremyajorgensen.com] 📬 Get Involved: ✉️ Sign up for the Friday Five Newsletter for Teachers: https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter [https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter] 🛍️ Shop the Why Edify Amazon storefront — stuff I actually use and recommend (affiliate link, small commission to me at no cost to you): https://www.amazon.com/shop/whyedify-jeremyjorgensen [https://www.amazon.com/shop/whyedify-jeremyjorgensen] 💪 Take the 30-Day Educator Challenge (Mind, Body & Spirit): https://bit.ly/3PS4zM7 [https://bit.ly/3PS4zM7] ☕ Support Why Edify: https://buymeacoffee.com/whyedify [https://buymeacoffee.com/whyedify] 🤝 Connect with Jeremy: https://linktr.ee/whyedify [https://linktr.ee/whyedify] 👕 Shop Why Edify Gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/why-edify/ [https://www.bonfire.com/store/why-edify/]

98. Teacher Gone Wild: GoPro, May Chaos, and Why Messy Is the Point

Teacher Gone Wild: GoPro, May Chaos, and Why Messy Is the Point May is chaotic. The paper piles are real. The emotional roller coaster is real. And honestly? So is the fun — if you let it be. Receive email updates: https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter/ [https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter/] In this STRONG Teacher Report, I'm giving you a raw, unpolished look at what's going on in my world right now: the newsletter that went out today (small changes, big compounds), a walled classroom chatbot experiment that was one of the most enjoyable things I've done all month, a GoPro that just arrived, and a new series I'm calling Teacher Gone Wild. No script. No polish. Just a teacher in May — doing the work, making the messes, and staying STRONG. What's in this one: - The STRONG Teacher Newsletter: small consistent changes and why they beat big overhauls - May chaos, the emotional reality of the end of the school year, and what actually helps - A classroom chatbot experiment that went surprisingly well (and was also kind of stressful) - The GoPro arrived — adventures incoming (Oregon, Canada, Boulder Junction triathlon) - The N in STRONG: No to perfectionism, for real this time - Why "just hit record" is actually the best strategy 📬 Get Involved: ✉️ Sign up for the Friday Five Newsletter for Teachers: https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter [https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter] 🛍️ Shop the Why Edify Amazon storefront — stuff I actually use and recommend (affiliate link, small commission to me at no cost to you): https://www.amazon.com/shop/whyedify-jeremyjorgensen [https://www.amazon.com/shop/whyedify-jeremyjorgensen] 💪 Take the 30-Day Educator Challenge (Mind, Body & Spirit): https://bit.ly/3PS4zM7 [https://bit.ly/3PS4zM7] ☕ Support Why Edify: https://buymeacoffee.com/whyedify [https://buymeacoffee.com/whyedify] 🤝 Connect with Jeremy: https://linktr.ee/whyedify [https://linktr.ee/whyedify] 👕 Shop Why Edify Gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/why-edify/ [https://www.bonfire.com/store/why-edify/]

97. Teachers, Your Attention Is Being Stolen — And You're Letting It Happen

Teachers, Your Attention Is Being Stolen — And You're Letting It Happen Your Attention Is Being Stolen — And You're Letting It Happen | Why Edify What got most of your attention yesterday? Not your time — your actual, focused, present-with-it attention? For many teachers, the honest answer isn't their students. It's the inbox at 7am. A difficult conversation looping in the background all morning. A data report nobody actually asked them to do anything with. Epictetus warned us: "You become what you give your attention to." That's not a productivity slogan. It's a warning. In this episode (week 2 of 4 in the Built From Within series), we get into what's actually competing for your mental bandwidth — and why it's not a personal failing that your attention is scattered. The system is designed to fragment it. Johann Hari spent years documenting this in Stolen Focus. The fix has to be structural, too. But that doesn't mean dramatic overhaul. Five honest, low-friction practices — starting with one question you can ask yourself every single day. 00:00 What Stole Your Attention 00:59 The Gap and Epictetus 01:47 You Become What You Notice 03:10 Why Focus Gets Fragmented 04:46 One Daily Attention Check 05:28 Five Simple Practices 08:03 Curiosity Shapes Who You Are 09:14 Next Episodes and Wrap Up --- 🔗 Links: → Weekly newsletter (free, Wednesdays): https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter/ [https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter/] → The Provocation: https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/the-provocation/ [https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/the-provocation/] --- Why Edify helps teachers be excellent without being exhausted. New episodes weekly. Subscribe so you don't miss Ep. 3 — the hardest conversation in the series. #TeacherWellbeing #TeacherBurnout #Stoicism #WhyEdify #STRONGFramework #Epictetus #TeacherPodcast #TeacherMindset #BuiltFromWithin 📬 Get Involved: ✉️ Sign up for the Friday Five Newsletter for Teachers: https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter [https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter] 🛍️ Shop the Why Edify Amazon storefront — stuff I actually use and recommend (affiliate link, small commission to me at no cost to you): https://www.amazon.com/shop/whyedify-jeremyjorgensen [https://www.amazon.com/shop/whyedify-jeremyjorgensen] 💪 Take the 30-Day Educator Challenge (Mind, Body & Spirit): https://bit.ly/3PS4zM7 [https://bit.ly/3PS4zM7] ☕ Support Why Edify: https://buymeacoffee.com/whyedify [https://buymeacoffee.com/whyedify] 🤝 Connect with Jeremy: https://linktr.ee/whyedify [https://linktr.ee/whyedify] 👕 Shop Why Edify Gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/why-edify/ [https://www.bonfire.com/store/why-edify/]

96. Compassion Is Not Soft — It's Survival (The Science Teachers Need to Hear)

Compassion Is Not Soft — It's Survival (The Science Teachers Need to Hear) Check out the STRONG Teachers Core: https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/strong-teacher-core/ [https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/strong-teacher-core/] There's a quote from Amanda Gorman that I keep coming back to: "There is no better compass than compassion." Not a destination. Not a cure. A compass — something that orients you when everything else feels like noise. If your week has been loud — the grading, the emails, the meetings that should have been emails — this one's for you. In this episode, I break down the actual science behind compassion: what it does to your body, your students, and your career. Not the poster-in-the-hallway version. The real version — backed by researchers at Berkeley, NYU, the University of Buffalo, and the Max Planck Institute. Here's what surprised me most: the things that feel like they cost you something might be giving something back. In this episode: - Why Darwin was actually making a case for compassion (not just survival of the fittest) - The inflammation research that connects meaning, purpose, and your long-term health - Jonathan Haidt's "elevation effect" — and what it means for the emotional climate of your classroom - A 7-minute practice that changes how connected you feel to the people around you - One simple thing to try before you leave your building today Compassion is always in your circle — even on the hard days. 📬 Get Involved: ✉️ Sign up for the Friday Five Newsletter for Teachers: https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter [https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter] 🛍️ Shop the Why Edify Amazon storefront — stuff I actually use and recommend (affiliate link, small commission to me at no cost to you): https://www.amazon.com/shop/whyedify-jeremyjorgensen [https://www.amazon.com/shop/whyedify-jeremyjorgensen] 💪 Take the 30-Day Educator Challenge (Mind, Body & Spirit): https://bit.ly/3PS4zM7 [https://bit.ly/3PS4zM7] ☕ Support Why Edify: https://buymeacoffee.com/whyedify [https://buymeacoffee.com/whyedify] 🤝 Connect with Jeremy: https://linktr.ee/whyedify [https://linktr.ee/whyedify] 👕 Shop Why Edify Gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/why-edify/ [https://www.bonfire.com/store/why-edify/] 🌐 Connect with Jeremy Jorgensen: 👉 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/why_edify/ [https://www.instagram.com/why_edify/] 👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-jorgensen321/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-jorgensen321/] 👉 Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/why-edify.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/why-edify.bsky.social]

95: The 90-Second Window That Changes Everything for Burned-Out Teachers

The 90-Second Window That Changes Everything for Burned-Out Teachers Something happened this week that followed you home. The person who caused it? Already moved on. You haven't. Join us in the STRONG Teachers Lounge: https://www.skool.com/the-strong-teachers-lounge-3476/about [https://www.skool.com/the-strong-teachers-lounge-3476/about] Read the episode newsletter: https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/the-provocation/ [https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/the-provocation/] After 26 years in the classroom, I know this pattern. Something hits — something that doesn't deserve the mental real estate we give it — and it follows us anyway. Into the car, into dinner, sometimes into the next morning. This is episode 1 of 4 in a new series called Built From Within, built around Epictetus and The Art of Living. Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher — and also a slave with almost no external control over his life — who built an entire philosophy around what a person can control: the mind, and what you choose to do with what hits you. In this episode: - What Epictetus called the "discipline of assent" — and why I just call it the gap - The neuroscience of the 90-second stress window (and what it means when you're still feeling it after that) - 5 gap-creating practices for real school-day situations — not theory This series runs four episodes. Each week goes one level deeper. Next week: you become what you give your attention to — and why that idea might be the most important one in the series. Timestamps: 00:00 - How external events can ruin your day and the importance of mental space 00:27 - Epictetus’s insight: harm is caused by believing you're harmed 00:57 - Introduction to Stoicism and Epictetus’s life as a former slave 01:40 - The control we have over our reactions versus external circumstances 02:10 - Overview of the podcast series exploring Epictetus’s teachings 02:49 - The concept of "the gap" — separating what happens from what you do 03:34 - The control of interpretation: focusing on the mind 04:19 - The importance of managing energy and attention in a chaotic environment 04:59 - Neuroscience insight: stress lasts approximately 90 seconds 05:57 - Practical strategies for teachers to create the gap during challenging moments 07:29 - How asking "What do I actually need?" shifts responses 08:24 - Taking two seconds before reacting in tense situations 08:56 - Using intentional speech to reframe replaying negative events 09:24 - The next episodes will dive into attention, self-worth, and external impact 10:41 - Resources and community engagement: books, guides, and discussion groups 11:11 - Invitation to join the Built From Within series with other teachers 📬 Get Involved: ✉️ Sign up for the Friday Five Newsletter for Teachers: https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter [https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/newsletter] 🛍️ Shop the Why Edify Amazon storefront — stuff I actually use and recommend (affiliate link, small commission to me at no cost to you): https://www.amazon.com/shop/whyedify-jeremyjorgensen [https://www.amazon.com/shop/whyedify-jeremyjorgensen] 💪 Take the 30-Day Educator Challenge (Mind, Body & Spirit): https://bit.ly/3PS4zM7 [https://bit.ly/3PS4zM7] ☕ Support Why Edify: https://buymeacoffee.com/whyedify [https://buymeacoffee.com/whyedify] 🤝 Connect with Jeremy: https://linktr.ee/whyedify [https://linktr.ee/whyedify] 👕 Shop Why Edify Gear: