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Send us a text Welcome back to Confessions of a PYP Teacher and the eleventh episode in our well-being series. I have been curious about learner burnout as I watch my five-year old niece.  She is a neurodivergent thinker who has ADHD, but also struggles with speech delay. For most of her life, she has been unable to articulate herself and her needs.  I have personally witnessed her frustration to be understood.   I was reminded of these issues related to learner burnout as I returned to the classroom three weeks ago.  My school needed an additional teacher for new learners enrolling into the school in the middle of the year.  I was fortunate to lead this class, but I was reminded of the potential burnout of neurodivergent thinkers and myself.  I went on a hunt to determine the primary causes and found the cycle of neurodivergent burnout by New Glade Counseling based in the UK.  They state that five major causes can create learner burnout in our schools, which I think applies to all learners who are struggling to keep up.  Listen to this episode to find out more! Thanks for listening! Please find us on LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social. Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! Let's have some fun!

Send us a text Welcome back to Confessions of a PYP Teacher and the tenth episode in our well-being series. Fatigue is the silent pandemic of modern life that happens when repeated stressors, small or large, grind us down over time. It’s the constant, everyday pressures that compound until you wake up one day unable to face them anymore. This is called Burnout. In this episode, we will discuss the signs of teacher burnout and how we can prevent it, so we can remain whole.  Let's do this! Thanks for listening! Please find us on LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social. Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! Let's have some fun!

Send us a text Welcome back to Confessions of a PYP Teacher and the ninth episode in our well-being series.   So far, we’ve looked at fear, worry, panic, and anxiety. These are internal experiences of threat;  the ways our mind and body respond when we anticipate danger, whether real or imagined. They’re signals that the nervous system is on high alert, scanning for what could go wrong. But there’s another side to mental health and well-being. Instead of being driven by inner threat signals, it’s shaped by the demands placed on us from the outside. This is where overload and stress come in. When the pressures of life and work outweigh the resources we have to cope, the system tips over. At first, this feels like everyday stress. But over time, if it doesn’t let up, it can spiral into two very different outcomes: burnout, being drained by too much or boreout, being drained by too little meaning or creativity. Both wear down our sense of ownership over our lives. Let's take a moment to unpack stress overload and how it can impact your well-being. For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com Thanks for listening! Please find us on LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social. Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! Let's have some fun!

Send us a text Welcome back to Confessions of a PYP Teacher and the eighth episode in our well-being series.   We have already unpacked all the ways that anxiety can manifest itself.  I don’t know about you, but it made me slightly anxious just talking about it!  No pun intended.   Now, we are going to examine the anxiety disorders that may be afflicting many of our colleagues, familiies, and learners within our learning community.  For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com Thanks for listening! Please find us on LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social. Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! Let's have some fun!

Send us a text Welcome back to Confessions of a PYP Teacher and the seventh episode in our well-being series.   This week, we are going to explore the big kahuna of well-being, which is anxiety.  As I was researching this condition, it was interesting to see the contrasting points of view.  Some stated that worry, fear, and panic were on a spectrum of anxiety.  While others stated that they were related, but not the same thing.  Naturally I went to a credible source, the National Library of Medicine.  Join me for this episode as we examine the cognitive, physiological, behavioral, and affect symptoms of anxiety.  For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com Thanks for listening! Please find us on LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social. Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! Let's have some fun!

Send us a text Welcome back to Confessions of a PYP Teacher and the sixth episode in our well-being series.   It’s been interesting going through this well-being series, because it has really stretched my thinking about how we are supporting our own mental health and that of our learners.  As I was unpacking panic, it really hit home to me.  Although I don’t have regular panic attacks, I do experience acute moments of panic that cause me to worry and to become fearful.  I usually find that these moments come when I feel out of control and do not have a sense of ownership over what is happening to me.  With this idea in mind, I want to explore how this process can regularly happen within a classroom setting.  We explore simple strategies that make a huge impact for our learners and others within our learning community. For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com Thanks for listening! Please find us on LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social. Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! Let's have some fun!

Send us a text Welcome back to our podcast and the fifth episode in our well-being series.   In this episode, we are going to lean into panic and how it can impact our well-being.   We’ve all experienced those moments of panic and our brain temporarily shuts down.  According to our friend Mo Gawdat, it’s because we believe a threat is imminent and there’s no time to act.  This makes sense when we lean into what we know about panic attacks.  Let's take some time to discuss how fear transforms into panic and what we can do to get out of it.   For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com Thanks for listening! Please find us on LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social. Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! Let's have some fun!

Send us a text Welcome back to our podcast and the fourth episode in our well-being series. In the last episode, we examined the power of fear in our lives.  We are all struck with fear many times in our lives and there is no shame attached to it.  In fact, we might have to worry if everything is perfect all of the time.   Fear is a natural response to tension in our lives, real or imagined, that can take over our rational thinking.  Many of us can be controlled by fear at different times, especially during times of challenges and change. Once again, this is a normal human experience.  The key is to not stay in the clutches of fear, but climb out of the situation as quickly as possible.  Let's take some time to address our fears, so they no longer control our minds and hearts, so we can live a full life together.  For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com Thanks for listening! Please find us on LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social. Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! Let's have some fun!

Send us a text Welcome back to our podcast and the third episode in our well-being series.  This is the most vulnerable I have been in some time.  Fear is our mind’s early warning system. It shows up when we sense a threat (whether real or imagined) and while it can protect us, it can also quietly hold us back. Susan Jeffers, author of Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, offers a powerful reminder: fear is natural, and it is something we all experience. Her message is not to wait until fear disappears, but to build the courage to act in its presence. She writes, “The only way to get rid of the fear of doing something is to go out and do it.” The more we wait, the more fear grows. The more we act, the more we grow. In this episode, we are going to take time to name the fears that have taken over our lives.  By giving them a name, we are one step closer to owning them and moving forward with confidence.  For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com Thanks for listening! Please find us on LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social. Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! Let's have some fun!

Send us a text Welcome back, my friends, to Confession 153.  This episode is framed by this quote by Mo Gawdat, "Worrying is praying for what you don’t want." Mo frames worry as a form of negative visualization. Rather than focusing our energy on what we want to grow, worry channels our attention toward fear and imagined threats. When we do this consistently, we reinforce anxiety. We lose our sense of clarity. We become less joyful and less present. Mo reminds us that while pain is often a part of life, suffering does not have to be. Worry is a mental habit, and like any habit, it can be examined and gently shifted. This had me thinking about how I might bring about and look for worrying that is regularly happening in the classroom.  If I were to look deeper, what would I find?  We will explore how to identify and deal with worrisome situations that arise in our classroom and personal lives with grace.   If you are a worrywart too, please have a listen to this episode.  For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com Thanks for listening! Please find us on LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social. Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! Let's have some fun!

Send us a text Welcome back, my friends, to Confession 152. Today’s episode marks the beginning of a brand-new series on something that’s been quietly knocking at the door of my consciousness for a while now: well-being. If I’m honest, I used to push that topic aside. It just didn’t feel academic enough; too soft, too personal, too invisible in our talk about developing unit planners and learner agency. But some recent events stopped me in my tracks. A couple of weeks ago, I was all fired up and ready to document the final learning journey of the school year. You know that feeling when the countdown is on? Six weeks left. That golden stretch where everything comes together. I even filmed a little video in my classroom. I was excited. Inspired. Two days later, I was at home. In pain. Sent home by my doctor and told to rest for five days. What happened the following week? It was a short three-day week and I barely made it through. There were moments I didn’t think I’d make it to the end of the day. The pain was constant, my energy completely depleted. I was moving, but it was like dragging myself through wet cement. As educators, we push. We push through colds. We push through exhaustion. We push through grief. We show up because that’s what we do. But what’s the cost of that push? For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com Thanks for listening! Please find us on LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social. Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! Let's have some fun!

Send us a text Hello my PYP family, this is Lu Gerlach from thinkchat.  Welcome back to Confessions of a PYP Teacher as we explore confession number 151, which is a challenge for our essential specialist and supporting teachers.  Over the past episodes in our specialist and supporting teacher series, we have explored some power topics, including The learner profile attributesInternational mindednessConceptual understandingNow, in the thirteenth episode of this series, it’s time to go even deeper with our application and challenge our thinking in a new way.  For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com Thanks for listening! Please find us on LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social. Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! Let's have some fun!

Send us a text Hi friends, it’s Lu Gerlach from thinkchat, and today is a BIG one. Episode 150. One hundred and fifty episodes.  It's the longest episode to date. Can you believe it? Because honestly, I’m sitting here with a cup of tea and a full heart wondering how we got here. What started as a passion project for me with a microphone and a head full of ideas has become a place of connection. This learner-centered community has kept me going, so a big thank you.  It’s through your willingness that you come back with me, episode after episode.  I know this isn’t the traditional podcast with fancy music and guests.  It’s just me sharing my ideas about the world, but I hope it has helped you in your journey.  For this very special milestone, I wanted to dive into something that continues to challenge, confuse, and inspire us: Conceptual Understanding — especially for specialist and supporting teachers. Let’s be honest: while homeroom teachers are often the focus of IB professional development, the incredible educators teaching music, PE, art, design, language support, special needs, counseling, and library are left trying to figure out, “Where do I fit in?” Well, this episode is for you. All of you. For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com Thanks for listening! Please find us on LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social. Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! Let's have some fun!

Send us a text Hey friends. Welcome back. It’s been a minute or two since we last connected, but here we are—episode twelve of our specialist and supporting teachers series. And this one? It’s a big one. Today, we’re diving into what I believe is the beating heart of deep learning in the IB: conceptual understanding—and more importantly, how it shows up in your space.  This is the question I hear all the time:  "Lu, I’m a PE teacher."  "I support EAL learners."  "I’m in the science lab once a week—am I really supposed to design around concepts?" YES. A thousand times yes. Your subject, your space—it’s filled with rich, meaningful ideas. And when we frame those ideas through concepts, we give learners the opportunity to build understanding that sticks—understanding they can transfer and apply long after they leave your room.  So, yes. It applies. But let’s talk about how. Also, I have a quick update. If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been hiding, I’ve been in the zone—leading workshops, collaborating with incredible educators, and building something that’s bringing me so much joy: the Learner Agency Guide. I’m talking theory and practice. A guide and a workbook. It’s general for now, but a version just for you—our specialists and support educators—is on the way. I just need time, space, and many cups of hot cocoa to do it right. For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com Thanks for listening! Please find us on LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social. Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! Let's have some fun!

Send us a text Welcome to the eleventh episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series.  Today, we are focusing on how we can further explore international mindedness in our practice.  This requires some deeper thinking and collaboration to make it happen. In the last episode, we explored how to unpack international mindedness through local and global contexts and projecting across time.  I am hoping that this episode will equally excite you to move forward with making global connections.  One thing I’ve been hearing over again by everyone that inspires me is that learning is intentional.  How are you being intentional with international mindedness as a specialist and supporting teacher? For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com Thanks for listening! Please find us on LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social. Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! Let's have some fun!