Episode 2 - You Good_ Teach_ _with special guest Gia Smith_

The transcription is about a podcast episode discussing teacher wellness, particularly focusing on black and brown educators. The hosts emphasize the importance of caring for the whole teacher, including their mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. They stress the significance of identifying and addressing mental health challenges to improve classroom management and overall effectiveness. The guests share personal experiences and insights on self-care strategies, highlighting the need to acknowledge and address mental health issues to maintain a positive teaching environment. The episode aims to provide effective teacher wellness strategies for listeners. It's about to go down, it's about to. I can't believe we're doing it again. We back, back, back, back, back again. Hey Brandon, where you at? Hey mama girl, what's up? Y'all are so good. Girl, I'm all up in your kitchen. From D.C. to Savannah, I got my baby. I know. And I'm excited about it. I love you. I know. We here, we here, we here, and this ain't on the test. This podcast is for you. It's from us for you. You're welcome. We here for y'all. We here for all of our black and brown teachers. We're here for educators. We're here for people that work in the school system. We're here to make you stronger and better. We here, and this ain't on the test. This ain't on the test. Welcome back. Thank you for coming back and joining us again. We're so happy to see you. And if this is your first time, welcome to the best time that you're ever going to have on the Educator Podcast. Girl, this is This Ain't on the Test with your host, Brandon and Beth, and we are here to tell you everything you need to know about black teacher wellness today. Today's episode is called, You Good, Teach? You Good, Teach? For those that don't know who we are, I am Beth. I am the mom, and you are? Brandon, I am the daughter. And we are seasoned educators, and we are here for you, and we are here to do what? Rep the culture. Come on. Tell us what Rep the culture is all about, mama. You know, in this space, baby, we are going to respect the culture. We are going to educate the culture, and we are going to protect the culture. What is the culture? It's the melanated black experience, baby. It's who we are, what we are, where we are from, the way we speak, the way we move, the way we create, and our ability to persevere. It is all that we are capable of, and that deserves to be respected. You ain't going to talk about our children or our teachers any kind of way. It deserves to be educated. We are going to ensure that our students are the best that they can possibly be by making sure our teachers are the best that they can possibly be. And we are going to protect it. We are going to bubble wrap that thing and keep it safe from all hurt, harm, and danger. We are going to Rep the culture. I know. That's right. And before we get into it, we would not be a group of educators if there wasn't a listing objective, okay? We always have an objective for every single episode. And by the end of this episode, our listeners will be able to understand and implement effective teacher wellness strategies. So once again, you good, Teach? Let's get into it. Come on in. I'm here, blessed and highly favored, with two moms. You jealous? They're both hot and smart. Your moms are probably ugly and dumb. Just kidding. I've got these awesome moms. This is my birth mother and my second mother, Mama Gia. And Mama Gia is going to be here to be our very first guest on this day, on this test. Mama, tell us about Mama. The lovely Miss Gia right here is the school counselor of the high school here in our area, which is in Savannah, Georgia. She's been amazing forever. I've known her as working the streets and our churches. She took care of my child as if that was her own child, what she's been saying right here, because now she has to take care of her own children. What was it that I just said? She's an amazing human being. Mama Gia is a positive force. And she's going to give a lot of information about the importance of self-care. So here we go with today's conversation, because this ain't on the test. What you got, Brandon? Today's episode is called, and I'm going to tell you about it in a second, this episode is called, and now I have it up, because now I'm going to tell you. This episode is called, You good, Teach? You good, Teach? Is you good? Like, are you good? That's a valid question. Like, are you good? This episode is all about teacher wellness, and how we are always talking about how we have to teach the whole child to be mindful of their social and emotional well-being, and trauma-informed teaching, and all of these things about the student. But what about us? What about the whole teacher? So today's episode is all about making sure the teacher is good, which is why we have our amazing, and if you don't know who this is, Mama Gia on the episode today. For our first question, Ms. Gia, what does it mean to you when we say, the whole teacher matters? Okay, I just need to clear up. The whole teacher matters in the educational realm, or just the whole teacher matters, period, point blank, period, point blank, the whole time. The same we feel about children is how we should feel about teachers, the whole teacher. How is her mental, her physical, because, you know, we are in a school, three levels, and it's elevated rates, so, yeah, the whole teacher is the mental, the physical, the emotional, and I'm going to slide in, the spiritual, because I'm going to pray when we walk in those doors at 16. Okay, so, yeah, so the whole teacher is the whole teacher. Just as we look at the whole child, in order for her to pour into the whole child, she has to be a whole teacher. You know, her cup should be full, because without her cup being full, she can't pour into it. So the whole child, whole teacher. Yeah. When we talk about, a lot on this show, about black educators in general, that's our targeted audience, our black and brown educators who work with black and brown scholars. Because they matter. So important. I have a mic. Because you matter, you are so important. So valued. So valued, so seen. I wonder, how do mental health challenges show up for the black teacher in the classroom? Are those mental health challenges, or solutions? Because the mental health is so real in our babies. And they can't really identify, you know, they'll just say, oh, I'm bad, or I'm this, I'm that, that's what the children are saying. The teacher, is it her mental health that she may not be aware of? And is she seeing it through the children? Is she seeing it in the children? Like, okay, this child has this, or this child has that, or I have this, and I have that. How are you helpful if you cannot handle your own issues, you know? So if the teacher possibly has, let's just say mental health, anything that she's not being medicated on, you're going to have a problem. If she has a mental health issue that she hasn't identified, or been diagnosed, we have a huge problem. Because there comes classroom management. You know? That is really important, because I think it goes hand-in-hand with classroom management, and self-management. And, dare I say, vocabulary. Because if you don't know what to call it, you're going to call it something and then treat that something, and that's not what the problem is. You might just think you're sleepy, and so you keep taking naps, but what it is, is maybe you're bipolar, maybe you're something else, but you keep taking naps because you think you're just sleepy. Your vocabulary is not extensive enough. You don't know what to call it, and therefore you can't treat it. Mental health is unnecessary as long as they physically show up. But they can't all work together. You cannot physically show up and not mentally be there. It's just hand-in-hand. I echo that completely. I don't know if there are worders in general. I did upload it in there. Blast and a half. And I did the first eight years, I think, of teaching uneducated. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get all of the tasks done in the day, why I was at work from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and everybody else could go home. I'm like, how are you getting everything done? I couldn't manage things, and then I'd get easily upset by the students. You go into this relationship-based classroom management. We're just vibing. Why would you talk to me like that? It's not real management. That's just like kicking it, kind of, you know? Yeah, so it becomes exhausting, and then you start taking things personally. You are a grown person taking 11-year-olds personally. I would tell my mama, you don't know what you're doing. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm here, and then you're totally offended, and that comment has triggered you, and you can't do anything for the rest of the day that's productive. You're not helping the children anymore and you decided they can't come back in your class either. They ain't coming back in here. I ain't teaching them. They could raise their hand. I'm like, I'm leaving. You have a whole attitude about a child. But that's the mental health aspect of it, and that's huge to know. You need to identify what's going on and medicate if medication is needed or just identify so you can find the solution because what happens is if you don't know what's going on and that 11-year-old tick you off, how are you going to help the child? And now that is a domino effect because you're mad at that 11-year-old and that domino's been pushed, and you're mad at everybody. You're going to take that anger and frustration out on everybody. You know what we're going to do? Everybody get out a piece of paper. Let's go. Start writing. I'll wait. We ain't have a recess for the rest of the week. Play with me. And then you take that to your house and you yell at the people in your house that weren't even in the building when you started. You're yelling at them too because it's out of control. If you can't call it and you can't claim it and you can't fix it, it is loose and free and out of control. That's true. You have to give it a name. You have to identify it so it can be fixed and it can be helped. I would say name it, claim it, claim it. Did you say it again? Name it, claim it. Don't be acting like there's nothing wrong with you. Something's wrong. Claim that thing. And then tame it. Do some yoga in the morning, some deep breaths. Know when you need to take a break. Take your meds. If you get prescribed meds and you don't take the meds, that doesn't help. It does not help. Your meds on the shelf don't do nothing for you. Name it, claim it, tame it. Oh, that's a good one. I like it. In your work, what unique stressors do black educators face that may not get discussed enough? Oh. Okay, let me reverse that. What gets claimed? Hmm. What do we honestly, what do we claim? What stressors do we claim? Aside from, oh, it's too much work or these kids too bad. What do we claim? That's a good one. These ain't like the kids I had before. I heard that so much. These ain't like the kids I used to teach. What are we not teaching? In 1983. So, get yourself together. It's 2025. Or they'll say, or teachers will also say, I'm not good with all this technology stuff. Um, 25? Again, 25. That's 25. That's 25. That's where we are. There aren't even any books, really. You know, it's all on the Chromebook. Yep. Electronics, you know, technology and things of that sort. So, I don't know how to use all this technology stuff or parents aren't involved. I call the mama and she's not answering the phone. She have words. It's 2025. No, the truth of the matter is, I've blocked her number. Real talk. They have blocked that number. So, when you call, you just get the phone ringing immediately. And that's it. And so, yeah, they just are behind time on everything. If they're behind time, that's stressful. Lack of classroom management skills is a huge stressor because these kids are different nowadays. They are extremely different. This is our first year where phones aren't allowed in the classrooms. So, that's good. I got an iPad. Here's my phone. I'm going to use my iPad. I got a phone. I got a watch. And then say, taking the phone up. We're technology driven. Yeah. It is. Y'all do that already. We've never had phones in schools. I've been teaching 13 years. Nobody. You have to turn them in at the front door. But we also have, you know, schools with metal detectors. There's security at the front door. There are wands. Every single student, as they come in, and then you turn in your phone and they check your book bag so they already know the process. Yeah. This is what we do. I've been doing this since first grade. So, when you come to high school, it's like, man, what? Y'all tripping, bro. High schoolers are allowed to have their phones. They're not allowed to have them in class. You have to put them in your locker or whatever. Lockers? They don't have lockers. Yeah, yeah, lockers. City mouse meets country mouse. What do you mean? I had a locker. I went to school in the city and I had a locker. My students at my high school that I just retired from did have lockers. They never used them because they didn't have any books because everything was on their computer. They don't have books. They never used their lockers except if they were on a team because that's when they put their PE workout. Now that you mention it, though, it was a performing arts magnet. You were always changing your clothes. Well, I was fashionable. But we did have like, you had to put your clothes for dance practice and your instrument books and you know. But if we go back a second about the classroom management piece and the phones, I'm going to play devil's advocate just a little bit. I didn't really mind my kids having their phones in my class. I didn't mind it because there's so much technology in their hands that those that didn't have computers didn't work. Phones still do. There's so much technology that we're acting as if we don't have and we complain that our Chromebooks are broken and that the internet's wonky and this, that and the other. But the phone is working. So I would have them put their phone and put it face down on their desk. Face down on your desk because you do have your watch and you do have your iPad so I can't see it and I'm not going to go by and say, let me see what's in your ear. I'm not going to do all of that. So I would just put the phone right there and let me teach for 15 minutes and then let me let you do something and while you're doing it, if you check a message, I'm not going to die. But I was also teaching high school for five years and if we don't teach them to deal with technology, I had to teach them to balance it. If you have a second, because if I get a second, I'm going to check my phone to see what message I got. So me playing devil's advocate, I was like, I want them to be cognizant adults. I want them to be professional adults. I don't want them to be limited like, hey, hey, look at my phone. I need them to know you can put it down and pick it back up. The message will still live there. The way that we have to show up to support the scholars. Since the pandemic, a lot of districts have taken a lot of buzzwords and put them out there like wellness and teacher self-care and you're going to get a wellness day. We're going to give you back the gift of time by ending this meeting 10 minutes early. I'm going to say all sorts of fun buzzwords. I feel like there are certain districts and certain school leaders have really put in true efforts on trying to make sure that teachers have a good work-life balance and that teacher wellness is a part of their culture. Have you seen any of that work in your district? And if not, what do you suggest for school leaders to do to support teachers? I actually have seen that. We had a wellness day and it was really cool. Maybe about two years ago with the wellness day, you were able to pick where you wanted to go. They did a massage. It was skating. What? I'm so glad I don't live here anymore. Never mind. Carry on. It was a professional wellness day and employees we just had to pick what section you wanted to go to. So that day was dedicated to wellness day. You could pick your sessions and like I said, it was massage. Another time was the chiropractor. It was free. If you signed up for it, you can go and I need that. Let me calm down. I felt it. I think that is really good but they need to have more and they also need to have teachers should be allowed to use a mental health day. It's not a sick day. It's not professional leave. I'm not digging in my pot to make sure I'm okay to show up and be there for my babies. A mental health day is just I'm tired and I need today. Now we can't take advantage of it because that's why we won't get it but I think that every teacher should be required. Just like truck drivers. When you're a truck driver, you can't drive for a certain amount of hours because they understand fatigue will kick in. I got it. Teachers need to stop and take time. Teachers need that exact same thing because that's why teachers' burnout exists because we don't make ourselves stop and rejuvenate ourselves. Everything has shelf life if you will and with the shelf life batteries and phones and we know everything has to stay charged up. Why don't we have to stay charged up? Saturday and Sunday what is that? A joke. I relax and chill on Saturday and Sunday it's time to get ready for Monday. So we really have one day out of seven days to get it together? No, that's not an option. Mental health day should be required just like truck drivers have. I love that idea. I love that idea of a mandatory every like six weeks it's time for somebody to take it. I love that idea. That's such a good idea. I honestly got into education because I know me. I can't deal with redundancy. I can't deal with Monday through Friday 8 to 5 and this is my office and this is where I'm coming. Oh sweet Jesus. I understand me and so I think it's important for us to teach our babies how to understand themselves. So that's why I got into education because I need the break. I need summer vacation. I need Christmas. I need Thanksgiving. I need spring break. I don't want to be down for that. People will say, oh you don't get paid in education. Well I really, honestly if you add up my time I work, I work 10 months. And I get paid just like you do. I have my time off that I'm still getting paid for. It's broken down. Teachers need that. My godmother worked up in Pennsylvania and they had a year round school. And I'm just like, I don't know if I like that. But it was like every 6 weeks. Every 6 weeks then they have the break. So it's just like they understand we can't just go from January to June Monday through Friday with a break here and there and not give you that time off that you need to just re-energize themselves. So definitely they need to start giving the breaks. Giving the breaks for mental health. So really excellent suggestion. And I would say the fatigue, especially for black educators the intersectionality of your career and the culture you can burn out a lot faster I would think. There's so much microaggression and little pieces of trauma that you deal with just being a black American walking around that can be exhausting. A lot of masking that people do. A lot of code switching that people do. And it's really, really tiring. And on top of that the workload of being an educator I feel like it's almost like a double duty of needing to make sure that you are taking that time for yourself. Educators, you have to understand most of us are women and so you will be an educator, you're in a classroom so you have about 27 kids. If you have one class. If you have one class. Because most of us have multiple. Right. I'm a school counselor high school. I don't have a class in alphabet. You have a caseload of a million people. M through Z. And our building is over 1100 children. But there's a good side to that. It's just like I have that has given me the ability to touch and bless so many. I can throw a little feed. That's so awesome. But on the same note I have a lot of kids. It's a lot of kids. I'm auntie of some, my mom of some miss of some I'm at school of some but I have a lot of kids. And at a certain point before my kids were adults and going off to school I had to go home to some kids. No break. Pass the mic to you, the other parent person. Right. That's a lot. That's a lot. So the burnout happens mentally physically and emotionally and financially. Oh boy, yes. Because you're buying those babies in the school you're buying them socks you're buying them drawers, you're buying some bras you're buying pads, soaps deodorant, lotion getting people's hair braided getting people's hair cut supporting people getting their prom dresses making sure they don't look crazy at the dance helping with things to do because they have to have their things It's a lot. Oh my God, mental health is so important. If we could just talk about as a black female, because that's all I can talk about because that's all I've ever been. So I can only talk about being a black female. Being a black female, like my daughter said you have to watch the way you speak or else you're going to be angry or your niece, she's from the north and I teach in the south so I have to check my accent make sure it doesn't get too strong that Brooklyn doesn't jump all the way out of me then I have to make sure that you don't let a cuss word slip because somebody got on your last note I thought you was Christian and then you can't roll your eyes you can't have a bad day you can't have a bad hair day because every child will ask you don't gain no weight, don't lose no weight don't get sick because then you've got to make up for all that time that you've missed when you were sick Lord don't have to have surgery I had to have surgery I actually snuck in the side door of the school to do the work because nobody was taking care of my babies so I ended up after having a hysterectomy I had to sneak into the school to meet my students because it was the beginning of the new semester and they hadn't met me and I said it's going to fall apart if I don't come in and I had to wait for my husband to drive away for work so I could sneak into the school and sneak back home and never let him know that I'd been there he knows now he basically found out eventually it's so much and then you just switch hats you're a counselor you're a big sister you're a big brother, big sister to the teachers you're an advocate you're everything some children come out to you some children want you to fix their love life some children hate their parents and want you to be their parent some kids want to come to the Lord and they want you to give them some scripture you have so many different things you do and it's not even 9 o'clock yet and you wonder if you could just eat but then somebody's standing over you and you're trying to shove food in your mouth and then there's a meeting can I just have that? can I taste it? what's that? you a vegan? what does that look like? real food? can I eat it? I'm like oh my God you're also like responsible you're like a gateway of culture for kids so everything you do they want to be like but when you need to take a knee you need to take a knee because you've given 100% because a group coach wouldn't let an athlete they would say you've got to sit down that's why there's a 6th man on the team that's why there's a backup quarterback it's because you can't play the entire game you're going to burn yourself out so they tap somebody else in but they don't tap nobody in for the teacher and then for a black teacher you are coach but you're on top of everything else my God today you need to take a knee take a nap, take a break, take a chill take a time out for you time out coach use your time off that's what it's for I left the classroom 3 years ago to work in this new hybrid role of awesomeness where I still work directly with the kids but I don't have a home room the big switch was that I went from 10 months to 12 months and I had so I don't get any of the breaks, I don't get summer break my Christmas break is actually technically shorter than everybody else's and so is my Thanksgiving break I still am on call for a lot of those days or I have to take my own leave to be off while the teachers are off and I've been doing it for 3 years and I just started taking off this school year guess where the children at? not with me because I took off to come and do something different it's a hard habit to break but it's worth it it's necessary it's needed everyone needs a time out if nothing else just to review the game plan you've got to take a time out we are full of metaphors today we're killing it right now just for the record look at these shirts for a second no it's cooler than magic math you matter because I gotta see it get to it 988 tomorrow needs you beautiful I'm out here for the queers I'm out here all places should be safe spaces all of them I just want to get into some of this black fashion and educational inspiration that we overhear all melanated and excellent and what not do you have any final notes for our core conversation today on making sure that the teacher the whole teacher is taken care of if you could give one piece of advice to teachers out there what would you tell them? take a time out the only way you can be effective the only way is if your glass is full and if you see it getting low you have to take a time out and go refill it so I think anyone in education definitely this is not for the weak not for the weak so be smart and take a time out to be awesome take a time out refill your cup so you can continue to pour into the lives of our babies we are definitely chosen this is not a gift for the weak and if somebody's in education they're meant to be there when you think about how many lives you can touch how many lives you can how God can just use you to say something and then that baby grow up you remember you told me I was great you remember you told me never forget how wonderful you are you remember you told me and I'm like yeah and I don't and he can't use a broken vessel so stop and feel yourself so you can pour and you can go out and do his work yeah well we have had so much good information you need to rewind this and do it again because that's what I'm going to do because that's a lot of good information and if you're looking at us we just keep on using information we look good no seeds this is the seeds part yes after our core conversation get into the metaphors after our core conversation we go into our seeds for growth so what are our things that we're going to take away I think that name it claim it payment is definitely a seed for growth that's a t-shirt that's a bumper sticker merch honey check the website okay any other that was my big take away taking a break the same way that truck drivers have to take a break like make sure that your engine is still running smooth just like they have to deliver whatever they have they have to deliver their shipment but their boss knows you have to drive from California all the way to Texas but you will stop and rest so you do not fall asleep or be ineffective and damage my cargo so you will stop I got it boss I got it I don't care what you say let me tell you what you're going to do you're going to stop so I can make sure you're well rested and you are alert and you're effective and you get my cargo to where it's supposed to be exact same thing for us so we can get our message out and be there for our precious I lied for his precious cargo okay let's see it for growth moment I can't add nothing else to that that was all amazing that was amazing so you should have something that you can take away with you and implement today not even tomorrow go this way and lay down stop drop drop oh that's a black teacher's role that is definitely and also what are your seeds for growth what were your big takeaways drop them in the comments let us know what you were thinking follow us on all of our social media platforms and let us know what your big takeaway what are your seeds for growth from this conversation the black teacher joy segment of our podcast is always about a moment that was fully joy centered something that reminds you why you keep doing this work even in the midst of cuckoo nanner sandwich craziness right we've had some really great stories and memories that we've shared so far about our educational journey and things that have made us happy memories that just bring smiles to our hearts what is a black teacher joy moment that you can share with us before I became a counselor I was an instructor at Savannah Technical College for 16 years and just last year one of my students from Savannah Tech I taught early childhood education and she sent an email and said hey I don't know if you remember me my name is Shannon whatever but you were my teacher at Savannah Tech I just want you to know I know right in May I graduated with my master's degree in education she's in North Carolina her husband was in the military and she has two kids but she said everything you taught me was phenomenal and I appreciate you so much I want to teach you over a year shut up I said oh my goodness and she said I looked you up and realized you weren't in Savannah Tech anymore but I saw your name and you work in the school system I hope this is you listen to what I say I printed off that email I would have been bald I printed the email off and it's on my wall because it's just like I know I was hard on purpose the first day I would say if you're in this program because you couldn't get into the nursing program and you're waiting trying to build your GPA up my goal is to get you out of my program and so I was hard on purpose the first few class meetings and I told them my goal is to get rid of the riffraff if you're not serious about this we are in early childhood education so you are that first stepping stone you're building that foundation and if you're not serious about landing the foundation for my babies you can cancel it I'm getting you out of this program so that is my well thank you for sharing your teacher's joy with us for today black teacher's joy brought to you today by discover black savannah discover black savannah black tourism at it's best I love when she turns on her commercial voice I so want to do commercials I can do voiceovers shout out to discover black savannah I'll see you soon what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say what I say see you soon thank you so much for kicking it with us today we hope you had a good time laughing and smiling over beautiful black teacher's joy memories and taking some time for some teacher wellness before the bell rings we're going to reiterate our seeds for growth the things we want to take away name it, claim it, tame it name your mental health challenges claim them as a part of your journey and tame them with the proper support whatever that support looks like walking, yoga, medication, therapy taking time off making sure that you name those mental health challenges, claim them don't act like they're not there and tame them with what it takes to take care of yourself our second seed for growth was expand your vocabulary know exactly what you're dealing with so that you can treat it properly name it properly and last but certainly not least take a time out rest and refill your cup so you have something that you can pour into others we love you guys thank you for coming back we hope you come back to us again next week remember no matter what we represent the culture educate the culture and protect the culture this ain't on the tab