In this co-hosted episode, Joe and I unpack a teacher's struggle with feeling "too judgmental" after her classroom space was taken over. We explore how what seems like a simple annoyance can reveal critical needs. We describe how a teacher moved beyond self-blame to embrace her emotions as signals that allowed for more intentional, connected teaching.

We discuss

* The importance of personal boundaries in a busy classroom

* Why we mislabel our annoyance as "being judgmental"

* How conflicts are not “failures”

* The power of asking for what you need rather than internalizing blame

You don’t have to be a teacher to enjoy this episode! Too many of us turn our legitimate annoyance against ourselves. Hearing how someone (who happens to be a teacher) reframed her negative experience into open-hearted understanding is good for everyone!

Got a story to share about a moment you felt you might have misunderstood your feelings? Leave me a voicemail at (413) 239-4158. Joe and I can unpack it in one of our episodes and maybe, maybe offer a different and helpful perspective!

If this conversation resonated, please consider leaving a rating or review on your podcast app. Your feedback helps others find us.

Credits:

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Co-Host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

It is so fun to talk with kindred spirits! That’s what the inaugural episode of TTE’s Season 3 is: an interview with Jim and Story Leonard, founders of Coaching@Altitude and two extraordinary coaches who share a lot of wisdom and insight into the lives and worlds of school administrators (and, therefore, of teachers, students, and schools)

We talk about

* working with senior administrators in independent schools (relevant for public school leaders, too)

* working with school trustees!! (God, boards can be so difficult)

* the energy model

* combating toxic school cultures

* managing interpersonal conflict

Even non-teachers will enjoy this discussion. Because managing relationships, being our best selves especially under conditions of stress, and getting life-changing support are relevant for everyone! I hope you like it — and…

welcome to a new school year and TTE’s Season 3!!

External Links

Coachability: The Leadership Superpower: thecoachableleader.com

Saboteurs assessment: www.positiveintellience.com/saboteurs/

Marita Fridjhon, relationship systems intelligence: crrglobal.com

Shirzad Chamine, positive intelligence: positiveintellience.com

Coaching@Altitude: coachingaltitude.com

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Thom Burris/Jabbering Trout

This is another episode in our inadvertent series on teachers who handle badly behaving classes in novel ways! This time Pamela brings her wrath at a class of all boys to a Teacher Support Group and, after exhibiting her own resistance to different interpretations, decides to try something she would never have tried if left to her own devices.

Listen to hear about

* different types of neglectful parenting and the surprising ways they can manifest in a classroom

* the joys — and limitations — of “revenge fantasies”

* the perils of fusing one’s reputation as a teacher to the behavior of one’s students

* how to turn wrath into calm, effective action

* the type of support that can help teachers “drain the swamp” and bring their better selves back to the classroom

I’d love to hear your story of a class’s abominable behavior towards a sub or anyone else! Just click on Share a Story on my Substack home page and write to your heart’s content. It’s totally confidential! And maybe we can work together to come to a completely unexpected understanding of your situation.

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Credits:

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Producer: Jullian Androkae

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

Thinking about self-care — and, importantly, figuring out how to be cared for — is always good for every teacher any time. In this episode, I talk with Deb Calderara, a teacher who knows what it feels like to be completely overwhelmed. After facing burnout, a serious health crisis, and the confusing and exhausting pandemic, Deb had to figure out how to find strength and keep going, both for herself and her students.

This conversation is about navigating those impossible moments and discovering unexpected ways to care for ourselves when it feels like there's no room.

We talk about

* the crisis moment that made Deb rethink everything and recommit to teaching

* how focusing inward anchored her during a life-threatening event

* why 'health' for teachers means looking way beyond diet and exercise

* what student behavior is really telling us when we shift our perspective.

Taking care of yourself isn't selfish; it's truly the foundation of resilient teaching. Better yet, being cared for by trusted colleagues and others can make all the difference in the world. And students' most challenging behaviors? They're often vital data points about their world, waiting for us to create the space to see them.

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I know many of you have your own wellness practices. Please share them!

And, please, if you enjoyed this episode, leave a review on your podcast app. Your endorsement can help spread the word! Which might make a big difference for a struggling teacher somewhere!

Credits:

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Producer: Jullian Androkae

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

In this episode, Joe and I unpack a classroom story from Siobhan, a special ed teacher working with high schoolers who grapple with big emotions — by acting out in big ways. What happened when her students broke a deal they made? How did Siobhan handle it? (It wasn’t pretty, at first! But then it got, well, amazing.)

Joe and I discuss

* why students might get “insufferable” in the first place and what they might be communicating

* how to prevent obsessive self-blame that can lead to insomnia

* what makes for a healthy “holding environment” in a classroom

* how actions teachers regret might actually be signs of strength

* how to talk frankly with students about classroom dynamics

I love this story, and I hope you do, too. If you’ve had a similar (or different!) experience, click Teaching through Emotions at the top of this page and then click Share a Story. You’ll get to me directly and confidentially.

Got a thought you’d like to share? Please leave a comment!

Know a teacher who could benefit from this teacher’s success story? You know what to do: share this episode and please leave a review!

And, finally, subscribe to the show in your podcast app and on Substack: https://teachingthroughemotions.substack.com

In this episode, I interview an old and dear friend, Sarah Becker, who has been teaching and teaching teachers and directing at the early childhood level for years. We discuss a topic that has always fascinated me (ever since I met Sarah and saw her in action): What do early childhood educators know that the rest of us teachers, from elementary through graduate school, can afford to learn?

We talk about

* basic tenets of early childhood education

* how those tenets apply at other educational levels

* emergent and project-based curriculum

* the concept of “professional love” (great concept!)

* what you can do tomorrow that will make you more present and effective whatever and wherever you teach

External Links:

Prospect Center

Prospect Center’s descriptive process

emergent curriculum

Vivian Paley You Can’t Say You Can’t Play

Tuvan throat singing

mentalization

being alone in the presence of mother (another)

Carol Garboden Murray Illuminating Care

Jools Page professional love

Paolo Freire and the banking metaphor of education

restorative practice

Got thoughts? Share ‘em!

And if you like this episode, leave a review on your podcast app. Let others know what you like about Teaching through Emotions. Thank you in advance — you’re a great help!

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Credits:

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Producer: Jullian Androkae

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

In this first episode of the second season of Teaching through Emotions, my co-host Joe and I tell a story about a cheater in a class taught by someone who can’t stand cheating. Our psychodynamic take on the story might surprise you.

* We retell the outrageous lengths our cheater went to.

* We share the teacher’s visceral responses to the cheater.

* We wonder where the cheater’s True Self is.

* We clarify what the teacher’s contributions are and how she can change them.

* We tell how the story ended after the teacher did some emotion work on the problem.

* We suggest axioms teachers can take away from this example.

Have you had a similar experience? Or maybe a different experience you’d love to share? Please leave a comment. Maybe I’ll contact you to do a podcast episode about YOU!

Subscribe to my podcast and newsletter at teachingthroughemotions.substack.com, where you’ll find more stories and insights like this.

Credits:

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Producer: Jullian Androkae

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

Season 3 of Teaching through Emotions, a Women Who Podcast award-winner, begins in two weeks! Get ready for thought-provoking interviews, mind-bending discussions of difficult teaching moments, and pithy stories about teacher successes made possible by the invaluable psychodynamic perspective.

And, starting this season, we’re eager to hear from you! Give us a call at 413.239.4158 and leave a message telling your own terrible teaching story. We’d love to put your voice on the air! And we’d love to think through your experience in hopes that it might help you and other teachers who are dealing with similar situations. That’s what we’re about here at TTE: working together to help teachers feel better. We can’t do it without you!

We’re really excited about Season 3. To get a sense of all that you’re in for this year, listen to the trailer!

Credits

Founder and host: Betsy Burris

Co-host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae

Audience development: Andreea Coscai

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

Seems as though feeling overwhelmed has become a trademark of the teaching profession. And confusion? Why do our students do what they do (or not do what they don’t do)? So much that happens in classrooms these days doesn’t make sense! In this episode, two teachers do make sense of their feelings of overwhelmedness and confusion. We talk about

* imagination in teaching and learning

* the importance of emotional and relational data

* creative solutions to overwhelming and confusing problems

* the importance — and ways — of digging up assumptions

* how to turn from worrying to working with your emotions

What overwhelms you? What confuses you? I’d love to hear! Just click Share a Story on the TTE home page and describe your experience. It’s completely confidential. I’ll get back to you, and maybe we can work out your own creative solution!

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Today we're in Sally's classroom. She loves hands-on learning and has a high tolerance for “squirreliness,” but what happens when squirreliness turns into outright chaos? One thing that happened for Sally was merciless self-blame that was so intense she actually considered quitting teaching. Sound familiar?

In this episode, we unpack Sally’s experience and

* clarify what went wrong (hint: It was not Sally, and it was not her students)

* consider the often completely mismatched purposes for being in a classroom

* reveal the basic truth that underlies all classroom behavior

* think about how classrooms can be effective containers

* argue for (a type of) hugging that is essential in all classrooms

As always, scan your body for sources of sadness, frustration, anger, and fear in your teaching. Then either leave a comment or go to the TTE home page and click on Share a Story. It’s quite possible I can help relieve you from unnecessary suffering. Only a click away.

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Ever feel like you're doing all the work in a co-teaching setup? Rachel, a passionate social studies teacher, struggles with Edmund's "old-school" ways. His fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants approach leaves Rachel overcompensating and bubbling with resentment. What can she do to right the balance?

In this episode we explore

* what it means to fit together in a team-teaching trap

* four different maladaptive relational patterns team teachers can fall into

* what “negative grandiosity” means (and what “positive” — bad term — grandiosity means)

* resentment as an incredibly accurate relational signal

* the perils of “filling the void”

Team-teaching adds a layer of work to an already difficult job. When it’s not going well, it can be debilitating. If you’re grappling with a tricky team-teaching situation, click on Share a Story and tell me about it. I can help!

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

It’s mid-terms. Students are panicked; they need extra help. If you’re a college instructor, you open up more office hours so you can assuage students’ anxiety. Students sign up but don’t show up. GRRRRRRR!!!

This episode features Robin, an extremely busy professor (like most teachers!) who got really mad when some students blew off the appointments they (voluntarily) signed up for. And didn’t contact her to explain why! How should she deal with this blatant inconsiderateness? What could she do with her insistent anger and disappointment? How did her Teacher Support Group help her turn it around?

In this episode we consider

* how to unpack anger and disappointment

* who has the power to change whom

* how the hell not to take students’ thoughtless behavior personally

* how to distill out the real issue from a swirl of emotions

It can be so difficult not to take bad behavior personally! If you’re feeling terrible about yourself because of stuff your students are doing (or not doing), I’d love to hear about it. I can help you do the seemingly impossible: restore you to self-confidence and help you give the responsibility for bad behavior back to your students. Just click on Share a Story on the TTE home page and send me the details. Totally confidentially. I’d love to hear from you.

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Ever considered visualizing your entire teaching day before you even get to school? Thinking it can make it so!

Ohm, baby!

Joe and I cooked up this special episode just for you, dear listeners, as you move into another wonderful and stressful school year. We know that the first day back can be… well, lots of things. That’s why we cut right to it, offering quick, actionable ways to get your mind right, manage the classroom, and even understand those tricky student dynamics before the school year gets rolling. We’ve pulled some great ideas from our teaching friends, mixed in our own thoughts, and kept it short and sweet.

Know a teacher? They might appreciate your sharing these tips with them!

You’ll hear about

* creative approaches to the first day

* self-care on and after the first day

* what to do with dread

* what psychodynamic shenanigans to look for

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

For my non-teachers out there: Get some good tips on how to approach any new beginning. Self-care, planning, managing dread, applying psychodynamic wisdom — it’s all relevant to all of us all of the time!

Credits

Founder and host: Betsy Burris

Co-host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae

Audience development: Andreea Coscai

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

COVID was extremely, unusually, horribly difficult for most if not all teachers. Jeremy, a math teacher, was no exception. He was pretty sure he could not teach under COVID conditions — until he figured out how to make his classes fun even when they were fully remote. Of course, COVID is behind us now (thank goodness). But teachers can still feel deeply disconnected from their students.

In this episode, we explore

* how to reverse self-doubt

* the importance of knowing your strengths AND your weaknesses

* how to think about making classrooms (even when they’re remote) fun

* the importance of relationships — between teacher and students, between student and student, and between students and the content

We’re not living through a pandemic anymore, but we are seeing behaviors in classrooms that were rare pre-COVID. If you have a knotty problem you’d like to get some relief from, click on Share a Story and type away! It’s completely confidential. I’ll get in touch and we’ll go from there.

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

But first: Introducing the TTE podcast as a winner of the 2025 Women Who Podcast Award!!

We here at TTE are thrilled at this honor!! Especially since Season 3 is about to drop (September 4th) and we’re excited about all the great new content we’ll be sharing throughout the school year.

And now for today’s terrific episode:

I have always pooh-poohed Disney, mostly because of its wildly unrealistic (and interchangeable) animated princesses. But this podcast episode has, amazingly, caused me to reconsider.

That’s because of an inspiring conversation from the Arts Educators Save the World podcast that we’re sharing today. It features L. Steven Taylor, who plays Mufasa in Broadway’s The Lion King, and Dr. Lisa Mitchell, Director of Education for Disney Theatricals. They discuss the profound impact of the Disney Musicals in Schools program.

They share

* how Disney Musicals in Schools trains teachers to put on a full-fledged (free) Disney musical

* how students respond to the program, including performing for Broadway actors!

* online resources available to support musical theater in schools

* future visions for the Disney Musicals in Schools initiative

The whole point of the Arts Educators Save the World podcast is to give listeners a peek into the profound impact mentors — that is, teachers — can have on students. In every episode, interviewers Erica, Alek, and Douglas find a student-mentor pair and interview them. On top of being interesting, each episode gives us all a chance to hear what teachers so rarely hear but so fulsomely deserve: how deeply influential they have been on students who went on to succeed in their chosen professions. (In this case, the arts.)

Give it a listen!

For my non-teachers out there: Hear how creative experiences can build confidence and collaboration among young people, far beyond academic subjects. And how easy and rewarding it is for adults (like teachers) to learn new tricks, like how to mount and direct a Disney musical!

External Links

Disney Musicals in Schools

Arts Educators Save the World podcast

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Producer: Jullian Androkae

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

Many years ago I took an online marketing course with Seth Godin. I learned a lot, but honestly? The one benefit I gained was to meet Danny Bauer, founder of Better Leaders Better Schools and early podcaster. He asked to interview me about Teaching through Emotions! I was amazed! And this episode is the result.

The interview took place in 2018, but it still perfectly captures the work I do and the reasons for it,

including

* what inspired me to go into education

* why I focus on teachers (and administrators)

* lots on healthy holding environments

* the genesis of my book The Feeling of Teaching

* what my ideal school would look like

Uhh! It’s all about me, but really it’s about my work. My great hope is that more and more teachers learn about and understand this work so they can get the support I know makes such a big difference in educators’ and students’ lives. If you feel like you or someone you know or your entire school needs help in teaching through their emotions, get in touch with me!

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

External link: Better Leaders Better Schools

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Producer: Jullian Androkae

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai

Music: Thom Burris/Jabbering Trout

There are some good podcasts out there about education, but this one takes the cake. And the prize. (It has won a Top of the Rockies award from the Society of Professional Journalists and was nominated for an Ambie Award, which celebrates excellence in podcasting.) For your listening pleasure this summer, we’ve teed up Episode 5 of Those Who Can’t Teach Anymore. You’ll hear Charles and the people he interviews

discussing

* the downsides of standardized testing

* the upsides of process over product* the “tourist problem” in education

* the intense irony of policies governing teachers and teaching

* one of my favorite quotes ever, spoken by a state legislator (it’s in the intro)

I chose this episode because, while I listened to it the first time, I kept saying, “Yes!!” “Right on!” and “Absolutely!!” So many of the points Charles and his guests make resonate with me, so I know they’ll resonate with you, too.

I love this podcast on its own merit, but full disclosure here: Charles lives in Wyoming, and his podcast is centered on Wyoming. And Wyoming, dear readers, runs through my blood, as my father grew up there. Charles himself has visited the gas station and convenience store in Centennial where my dad actually lived and worked! (FYI, it’s called The Friendly Store now.) So I share this awesome episode with a heart full of fondness and pride.

I hope you enjoy it!

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

External links

Those Who Can’t Teach Anymore Season 1Those Who Can’t Teach Anymore Season 2

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Producer: Jullian Androkae

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai

Music: Thom Burris/Jabbering Trout

In this special season finale, I speak with Charles Fournier, creator of the award-winning podcast Those Who Can’t Teach Anymore. Charles is a teacher — a really good, creative, passionate teacher, from what I can tell! — whose insights about what drives teachers out of the profession and what keeps them in are interesting and often surprising.

We talk about

* the multi-dimensional, culturally sanctioned disrespect for teachers

* the pitfalls of quantifying learning

* teaching content vs emphasizing relationships

* my ideal teaching and learning “space”

* a surprising characteristic of many teachers who stay in the profession

For my non-teachers out there: See where you stand on your assumptions about teachers and teaching — and maybe consider how to support the diehard teachers students need!

External Links

Those Who Can’t Teach Anymore

Teaching Texas

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy BurrisProducer: Jullian AndrokaeAudience Development: Andreea CoscaiMusic: Thom Burris/Jabbering Trout

This one’s about me, folks! Joe and I dissect a story from long ago in which I caved to my conflict aversion — and then doubled back to engage with the conflict. Because it felt just too awful to continue to avoid it! In addition to sharing the surprising outcome of my conflict engagement,

we talk about…

* the subtle dynamics of self-erasure and avoidance

* power grabs in collaborative settings

* the transformative practice of repair

* the pervasive nature of parallel process in all human interactions, from classrooms to personal life

* why we hate group work (added bonus.)

For my non-teachers out there: Engaging with rather than avoiding conflict is a sure-fire way to strengthen any relationship — if you go about it with authenticity and clear boundaries. This episode relates to you, too!

As always, send me your crazy teaching story. If it’s juicy enough, we can work on it and put it on the podcast! (Completely confidentially, of course.) And, if you like the podcast, please write a review on whatever app you use. Thanks so much for listening!

Credits:

Founder and Host: Betsy BurrisCo-host: Joe JohnsonProducer: Jullian Androkae Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout

In this episode, I talk with Arthur Chiaravalli, an educator at the heart of an organization called Grow Beyond Grades. Arthur shares his deeply personal journey away from traditional grading, revealing how it can undermine learning, sideline classroom relationships, and lead to passivity and apathy. He also talks about how freeing it is to deep six grades while focusing attention on meaningful, collaborative assessment — that is, on truly human-centered teaching.

We talk about:* grades as handcuffs to products; how can we honor our students’ (and teachers’) processes?* the calamity of students who (for good reasons) simply chase the grade* the passivity that has taken over so many students and teachers* the question of who tells the story of student learning and how that story gets told* ways teachers can grow beyond grades in their own teaching

Would you go grade-less or move beyond grades? Would you find it helpful or more challenging for your classroom?

For my non-teachers out there: listen to a compelling vision of what your schooldays could have been like!

External Links:Explore resources and stories at: growbeyondgrades.orgFind my podcast and writing at teachingthroughemotions.com

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Feel free to share this episode as well.

Credits:Founder and Host: Betsy BurrisProducer: Jullian AndrokaeMusic: Tom Burris