Gina’s Top Teacher Talk Takeaway
By Gina Benz for SDPB’s Teacher Talk
Since 2023, SDPB’s Teacher Talk has produced over 80 podcasts and accompanying blog posts focused on teachers, schools, students, and educational research. So, I think it’s about time I share my Top Teacher Talk Takeaway and its two runners-up.
TOP TAKEAWAY: Find your BFAWs.
Although no Teacher Talk episode focused on Best Friends at Work, we said it again and again because it’s just that important to find your best friend at work. (Abbott Elementary even touched on it in episode 8 of season 1.) I first heard this term while completing a Gallup Poll at work over ten years ago. Gallup is still producing research that correlates job satisfaction and effectiveness with having a BFAW. Here’s what they say.
“Employees who have a best friend at work are significantly more likely to:
- engage customers and internal partners
- get more done in less time
- support a safe workplace with fewer accidents and reliability concerns
- innovate and share ideas
- have fun while at work”
When I first took this poll, I thought, “Why does my best friend have to also work with me?” What I realized later is that the poll acknowledges we have “best friends” in many settings. A work best friend, a neighborhood best friend, a church best friend, etc. I’m fortunate to have a few BFAWs. I’m also fortunate to have Lori’s and Jackie’s friendship. Without it, Teacher Talk would have never hit 80 episodes or contained so many moments of laughter and tears before, during, and after recording.
One especially teary moment in the studio occurred during our recording with 2023 National Teacher of the Year Rebecka Peterson. She told us that her husband Brett took a leave of absence from work so that she could focus on serving as the nation’s Teacher of the Year. While she traveled, he kept their home running smoothly. As Rebecka was sharing, all of us in the studio looked over at Brett sitting in the corner. I think it was our most poignant moment to date, and even more so for me because Brett was once my student. Although not a teacher, Brett also works for the school district where Rebecka serves and can talk education with the best of ‘em, so he most definitely qualifies as one of her BFAWs. What’s more, Rebecka and I have a developing friendship as we both lead “Grow Your Own” programs – hers in Oklahoma and mine in South Dakota.
I love my life’s work, and having BFAWs in it with me is one of the most vital components of that love.
RUNNER-UP: Smartphones are wonderful and also horrible.
More than any other topic, we discussed the complexities and research associated with smartphones. Consequently, this podcast has become a record of my evolution in thinking and practice. Now that my district has a uniform and universal ban of smartphones, I’m savoring an atmosphere in my classroom that I forgot could exist, and it seems that many of my students feel the same. Rather than reaching for phones to cure discomfort, curiosity, or boredom, they are talking with each other, taking out books, or simply being still with their thoughts.
Teacher Talk| A Teacher's New Year's Resolutions | SDPB
Teacher Talk | What Emerging Research Says About School Cell Phone Bans | SDPB
Teacher Talk | Cell Phone Bans | SDPB
Learning to Sit with Emotions, Not a Screen | Teacher Talk | SDPB
Student Phone Use | Teacher Talk | SDPB
RUNNER-UP: Boundaries prevent burn-out.
I focused on boundaries in almost 10% of my posts. I needed to process the concept for my own wellbeing, and if others were helped, even better. What’s more, our favorite sitcom Abbott Elementary made it a theme of their first episode, so it’s got to be vital, right?
Teacher Talk | Boundaries: Students | SDPB
Teacher Talk | Boundaries: Colleagues | SDPB
