Classroom Narratives: Healing in Education

Listening as Witness: How Art, Community, and Invitation Create Space for Healing with Rosa McAllister and Tieshka K. Smith

📝 Episodic Synopsis What does it mean to truly listen—not just hear, but witness? In this powerful panel conversation, Dr. Joey Weisler is joined by Rosa McAllister and Tieshka K Smith to explore how intentional listening can transform communities. Drawing from their work on the Listening Loom project and their contributions to Restorative Practices in Education Through the Arts, they unpack how art, storytelling, and human connection create space for healing across cultures, identities, and lived experiences. From classrooms to community spaces, this episode challenges educators and leaders to rethink participation, redefine safety, and embrace the role of witness—with boundaries. Through stories of displacement, trauma, and resilience, Rosa and Tieshka reveal how healing doesn’t happen in isolation—it happens between people, in the courage to listen, and in the spaces we intentionally create for others to be seen. 🔗 Show Links and Resources 📌 Kathryn Pannepacker's Classroom Narratives segment on creating spaces of presence [https://rss.com/podcasts/teachertestimony/2782430] 📌 Restorative Practices in Education Through the Arts (Book) [https://www.davisart.com/restorative-practices-in-education-through-the-arts/] 📌 ROSA MCALLISTER: networksfortraining.org [http://networksfortraining.org] Artists For Artists Global (AA4G) [https://linktr.ee/artistsforartistsglobal?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnuoyAOLxXNQQ7eiDdvIIJeYfRdH8KT_WSjB3tGGfWUKQLR_am2h-JHHUOsdk_aem_kAcFDH19opqrKlH5wKuSag] 📌 TIESHKA SMITH tieshkasmith.com [http://tieshkasmith.com]

Listening Isn’t Fixing: Creating Space for Presence in the Classroom with Kathryn Pannepacker

📝 Show Synopsis What if listening wasn’t about responding—but about being present? In this episode, Dr. Joey Weisler speaks with artist Kathryn Pannepacker about “intentional listening” as a practice of care, not correction. Through her Listening Loom project, Kathryn creates spaces where people are asked two simple questions: How are you doing? and What do you need? Together, they explore how educators can foster connection without becoming “fixers,” why presence matters more than performance, and how small moments of attention can reshape classroom culture. 🔗 Links and Resources 📌 Lisa Kay on the Classroom Narratives [https://rss.com/podcasts/teachertestimony/2373312/] 📌 Bev Johns on the Classroom Narratives [https://rss.com/podcasts/teachertestimony/2576503/] 📌 Restorative Practices in Education Through the Arts (Book) [https://www.davisart.com/restorative-practices-in-education-through-the-arts/] 📌 Kathryn’s website [https://www.kpannepacker.com/about] 📌 Kathryn’s listening loom: Eyewitness News ABC-7 [https://abc7ny.com/videoClip/11393791/] 📌 “I Saved A Chair For You”: work by Kathryn Pannepacker [https://www.waygay.org/i-saved-a-chair-for-you]

Meeting Your Inner-Hero and Healing Your Inner-Child: with Ron Yap @mentalhealthceo

📝 Show Notes (Key Ideas & Takeaways) What if healing isn’t just about looking back—but also about learning to listen forward? In this episode of Classroom Narratives, Dr. Joey Weisler sits down with Ron Yap (@mentalhealthceo) to explore the dual work of healing the inner child while also meeting the inner hero—the future version of ourselves who has already found meaning, clarity, and direction. Drawing from his work in Finding Meaning in Life When It Feels Like There Is None, Ron unpacks how people lose their sense of purpose through survival mode, identity disruption, and living stories that were never truly theirs. For educators especially, this conversation hits close to home—where caring for others can quietly lead to losing yourself. Together, they examine anxiety, OCD, the survival mode, imposter syndrome, and the emotional weight educators carry, while offering a grounded way forward: reconnecting to values, separating internalized voices from your own, and creating a vision of who you’re becoming—not just who you’ve been. This episode is both reflective and practical—a reminder that healing doesn’t stop with the past. It continues when we allow our future self—the inner hero—to guide us forward. 🔗 Show Resources and Links 📌 Ron Yap's website [https://www.mentalhealthceo.com/innerheroawakeningbeta] 📌 Ron Yap's instagram: @mentalhealthceo [https://www.instagram.com/mentalhealthceo/] 📌 The Inner-Hero's Journey Newsletter [https://www.mentalhealthceo.com/the-inner-heros-journey-newsletter?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGn7-E30Mer0VjNmLXUlusf23cjenfM3r2EsGQpGCiFoIof3dcFPX_F8D-MjDI_aem_Wy5f1tHusYe3YfkVzt5ewA] 📌 The Inner-Hero Workbook [https://linktr.ee/mentalhealthceo?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnjJ1YwRCdv-ByabmrsUygfYQ9AfIiEIMpZdvWHnjIJj1T4PWunk82-YYct64_aem__hx6l0EPErlZ-2CB8zv9uQ] 📌 Beyond Behavior: Bev Johns [https://rss.com/podcasts/teachertestimony/2576503/]

Empathy Without Self-Abandonment: Unhooking from Survival Mode in Leadership and Teaching with Leila Boutaleb Brousse

🧭 Episodic Synopsis What if burnout isn’t coming from the workload—but from disconnection? In this episode of Classroom Narratives, Dr. Joey Weisler sits down with leadership expert Leila Boutaleb Brousse, founder of Eyelee Growth and creator of the Unhooked Leadership Method, to explore what it really means to operate in “survival mode”—and why so many educators and leaders feel stuck there. Leila challenges the idea that empathy alone is enough, introducing a critical distinction: empathy without boundaries isn’t leadership—it’s self-sacrifice. Together, they unpack how people-pleasing, decision fatigue, and chronic overextension quietly erode both performance and identity over time. From emotional regulation to boundary-setting, this conversation offers a grounded, practical lens on how to reconnect with your “why,” reclaim your energy, and lead without losing yourself in the process. If you’ve ever felt like you’re constantly giving but slowly disappearing in the work—this one is for you. 🧩 Show Notes (Key Ideas & Takeaways) * Survival mode isn’t about workload—it’s about disconnection. Burnout often stems from losing connection to purpose, meaning, and identity—not just being “too busy.” * Decision fatigue is quietly draining educators. Thousands of daily micro-decisions—academic, behavioral, emotional—leave teachers mentally and physically depleted. * Empathy without boundaries is not empathy—it’s self-sacrifice. What many educators call “empathy” is often unregulated people-pleasing that leads to burnout. * People-pleasing starts as care—but becomes a self-sabotager. When driven by fear, validation, or approval, it erodes confidence, leadership presence, and self-trust. * Working at 120% becomes the expectation—not the exception. Overperforming consistently resets the baseline, making sustainable effort appear like underperformance. * Emotional regulation is a leadership skill—not a luxury. Suppressing emotions leads to delayed reactions, inconsistency, and breakdowns in trust. * Naming emotions reduces their intensity. Simply identifying what you’re feeling can decrease emotional intensity by up to 50%, creating space for intentional response. * Authenticity is not “acting however you feel.” True authentic leadership is grounded in values, clarity, and intentional action—not emotional reactivity. * Boundaries are not selfish—they are protective. They allow educators and leaders to sustain their energy, align with their values, and show up consistently. * A simple framework for growth: Awareness → Intention → Action Real change begins with self-awareness, followed by intentional choices, and sustained through consistent action. 🔗 Show Links and Resources Leila's website: EYELEE Growth [https://www.eyleegrowth.com/] Leila's linkedin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/leilaboutalebbrousse/] Leila Instagram: @leilaboutalebbrousse [https://www.instagram.com/leilaboutalebbrousse/#] Supriya Budhiraja podcast [https://rss.com/podcasts/teachertestimony/2022273/] Brené Brown on sympathy vs empathy [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZBTYViDPlQ]

Invitation Over Compliance: Design Thinking in Classrooms with Dr. Fred Estes

📝 Episodic Synopsis What happens when learning stops being about information—and starts becoming about invention? In this episode of Classroom Narratives: Healing in Education, Dr. Joey Weisler sits down with educator, author, and innovation specialist Dr. Fred Estes to explore how design thinking can transform the classroom into a space of agency, creativity, and real-world impact. Drawing from decades of experience across K–12 and higher education, Dr. Estes introduces the “ABCs of learning”—Agency, Belonging, and Competence—and challenges educators to move beyond traditional models of instruction that prioritize memorization over meaning. Together, Joey and Fred examine what it means to create classrooms rooted in invitation rather than force, where students are empowered to solve real problems, design for others, and reconnect with their own capacity for creativity. From working with marginalized students to redefining the role of play, this conversation reminds us that the most powerful learning environments are not the ones that demand engagement—but the ones students choose to enter. 📌 Show Notes and Resources * Design Thinking: A Guide to Innovation [https://a.co/d/0hIh5k1v] (Dr. Fred Estes) * Fred Estes website [https://fredestes.com/] * The Education Talk Show With Jeremy Brooks [https://www.theedtalk.com/]