What if the reason your students shut down at "I can't" isn't a motivation problem — it's that nobody ever gave them a map?

Jewellyn Forrest, co-founder of AutonoMY Learning and instructor at the University of Texas at Austin, joins me with over 33 years in education to introduce a visual framework that's changing how teachers and students think about struggle, effort, and what learning actually looks like. We talk about why circles are the wrong shape for learning, what happens when kids finally have language for what they're feeling mid-struggle, and why performing well on a test doesn't mean the learning is actually theirs yet. Jewellyn also gets real about her own parenting, her own burnout, and why this framework ended up doing something she never expected for her as a teacher, not just her students.

If you've ever felt like you're the one holding all the weight of your classroom's learning, this conversation is going to shift something.

Check out the full show notes: http://www.teachingmindbodyandsoul.com/episode160

👉Join the FREE Resilient Teacher Community on Facebook: http://www.teachingmindbodyandsoul.com/supportsquad

📝 Want a FREE personalized step-by-step guide to crushing teacher burnout? Take the Personalized Burnout Recovery Roadmap quiz here!

❓Get your Questions Answered on the Resilient Teacher Podcast: Ask anything about burnout, recovery, self-care, simplification, and get your questions answered on the show. Head over to teachingmindbodyandsoul.com/ask

✨While this podcast is meant to be helpful for teachers and their mental health, it is not a replacement for therapy or medical care from a licensed professional. Head over to teachingmindbodyandsoul.com/talkspace to save $100 on your first month of accessible therapy from a licensed professional by using the code: SPACE!

🚨Get on the Waitlist for the Automate Your Classroom course & be the first to know how to simplify teacher tasks and create automations so that you can reduce time wasting tasks, set it and forget it, and have the time to do the things you actually want to do in teaching here!

👩🏻‍💻Get on the Individualized EduCare Program Waitlist and be the first to know when the doors open & special promotions here!

💬PS: Has this podcast been helpful for you? Quick! Screenshot this episode, add it to IG, and tag me @itsbrittanyblackwell This helps spread the word of this podcast to other educators.

Every August, teachers make the same promise to themselves: this year, I'm going to leave work on time. This year, I'm going to protect my time for myself and my family. And every year, that promise starts slipping the moment the calendar fills back up.

In this episode, I'm getting into why "just set better boundaries" isn't the full answer — and what it actually takes to build a life that doesn't disappear every fall and reappear every summer. We talk about the difference between static and dynamic systems, why the routine that worked two weeks ago might already be failing you, and how I'm learning to build systems around a life that includes cheer, soccer, work, school, and a family schedule that never looks the same two weeks in a row.

This is the first in a series on the systems that support your life outside the classroom — so if you've ever felt like your life gets put on pause from August to May, this one's for you.

CHECK OUT THE FULL SHOWNOTES: http://www.teachingmindbodyandsoul.com/episode159

👉Join the FREE Resilient Teacher Community on Facebook: http://www.teachingmindbodyandsoul.com/supportsquad

📝 Want a FREE personalized step-by-step guide to crushing teacher burnout? Take the Personalized Burnout Recovery Roadmap quiz here!

❓Get your Questions Answered on the Resilient Teacher Podcast: Ask anything about burnout, recovery, self-care, simplification, and get your questions answered on the show. Head over to teachingmindbodyandsoul.com/ask

✨While this podcast is meant to be helpful for teachers and their mental health, it is not a replacement for therapy or medical care from a licensed professional. Head over to teachingmindbodyandsoul.com/talkspace to save $100 on your first month of accessible therapy from a licensed professional by using the code: SPACE!

🚨Get on the Waitlist for the Automate Your Classroom course & be the first to know how to simplify teacher tasks and create automations so that you can reduce time wasting tasks, set it and forget it, and have the time to do the things you actually want to do in teaching here!

👩🏻‍💻Get on the Individualized EduCare Program Waitlist and be the first to know when the doors open & special promotions here!

💬PS: Has this podcast been helpful for you? Quick! Screenshot this episode, add it to IG, and tag me @itsbrittanyblackwell This helps spread the word of this podcast to other educators.

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is sponsored by 99Math (a FREE math game & resource):

Learn more about 99Math here!

Have you ever had a student who suddenly seemed defiant, checked out, or unmotivated — and you couldn't quite figure out why? What if it wasn't a behavior problem at all?

Kera Sanchez, certified grief and resilience expert, founder of Get Griefy Magazine, and TalkDeath's 2025 Grief Educator of the Year, joins me to challenge everything most of us think grief actually looks like. We get into what's really going on behind some of the most misunderstood behaviors in the classroom, the phrase teachers should stop asking grieving students altogether, and a moment from Kera's own classroom she still thinks about today. We also talk about whether burnout itself might be a form of grief no one's ever named, and what that means for how you're showing up right now.

This one's going to change how you see at least one student in your classroom. Maybe more than one.

Check out the full shownotes: http://www.teachingmindbodyandsoul.com/episode158

👉Join the FREE Resilient Teacher Community on Facebook: http://www.teachingmindbodyandsoul.com/supportsquad

📝 Want a FREE personalized step-by-step guide to crushing teacher burnout? Take the Personalized Burnout Recovery Roadmap quiz here!

❓Get your Questions Answered on the Resilient Teacher Podcast: Ask anything about burnout, recovery, self-care, simplification, and get your questions answered on the show. Head over to teachingmindbodyandsoul.com/ask

✨While this podcast is meant to be helpful for teachers and their mental health, it is not a replacement for therapy or medical care from a licensed professional. Head over to teachingmindbodyandsoul.com/talkspace to save $100 on your first month of accessible therapy from a licensed professional by using the code: SPACE!

🚨Get on the Waitlist for the Automate Your Classroom course & be the first to know how to simplify teacher tasks and create automations so that you can reduce time wasting tasks, set it and forget it, and have the time to do the things you actually want to do in teaching here!

👩🏻‍💻Get on the Individualized EduCare Program Waitlist and be the first to know when the doors open & special promotions here!

💬PS: Has this podcast been helpful for you? Quick! Screenshot this episode, add it to IG, and tag me @itsbrittanyblackwell This helps spread the word of this podcast to other educators.