The Balanced Educator Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Start the School Year with Intentional Goal-Setting Aug 27, 2018

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Ready for a purposeful school year?

In this episode of The Balanced Educator Podcast, we dive into how to set intentional goals for the year ahead and align them with your values. We walk you through our goal-setting process for our business and share how you can apply the same strategy in your classroom.

Learn how to prioritize your time, make intentional choices, and stay focused on what truly matters to make this school year your most impactful yet!

Mindful Classroom Management Aug 20, 2018

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Struggling with classroom management?

In this episode of The Balanced Educator Podcast, we challenge the traditional idea of classroom management and explore how to empower students with the skills to self-regulate and stay intrinsically motivated. Instead of managing behavior, we focus on teaching kids how to manage their emotions and actions independently.

Discover two powerful classroom routines—mindfulness practices and intentional daily discussions—that can help foster self-regulation, focus, and motivation in your students.

How to Reclaim Your Time and Shift the “Busy” Mindset Aug 13, 2018

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Feeling overwhelmed by a “busy” schedule?

In this episode of The Balanced Educator Podcast, we explore time perception, productivity, and the stories we tell ourselves about being “too busy.” Discover how to shift your mindset, prioritize what truly matters, and make the most of your 24 hours. Learn practical tips to recognize where your time really goes and how saying "yes" to one thing means saying "no" to another.

We also dive into strategies to break free from unproductive habits, like endless social media scrolling, and cultivate awareness to make intentional choices with your time.

Infuse Mindfulness in Your Classroom with Expert Tips from Teacher Carolina Smith Aug 06, 2018

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Want to create a calmer classroom?

In this episode of The Balanced Educator Podcast, we chat with Carolina Smith, a Grade 1 French Immersion teacher from Calgary, who shares how she weaves mindfulness into her life and teaching.

Carolina, who overcame burnout by embracing self-care and mindfulness, offers real strategies for bringing calm, focus, and balance into K-12 classrooms. From Breathe Grow Thrive resources to morning routines and breathing techniques, Carolina reveals her top tips for mindfulness and self-care for teachers and students alike.

Get inspired by her daily practices, including mindful breathing and self-checks that help her respond, not react, to classroom demands. Carolina also discusses creating boundaries between work and home to sustain her balance and well-being.

Move from Negative to Positive Emotions with This 2-Step Mindfulness Strategy Jul 30, 2018

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Struggling with negative emotions? In this episode of The Balanced Educator Podcast, we share a simple, science-backed, 2-step strategy to help teachers and students shift from feeling low to finding emotional balance and positivity. Learn how to recognize, understand, and move up the emotional scale toward happier feelings—a tool that’s as helpful for educators as it is for kids!

We dive into the Emotional Scale from Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires by Esther and Jerry Hicks, which ranks 22 emotions from the most challenging to the most uplifting. Discover practical steps for sliding up the scale one emotion at a time, and gain insights on how self-compassion is crucial when the climb feels tough. Embracing negative emotions is part of being human—learning how to manage them can empower you and your students for a calmer, more balanced classroom environment.

Finally, we share tips on teaching kids to use this emotional scale to manage their own emotions, building emotional resilience and mindfulness skills.

Why Self-Care Makes You a Better Teacher: 5 Strategies for Educators to Reduce Stress and Boost Classroom Well-Being Jul 09, 2018

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Feeling guilty about taking time for self-care as a teacher? It's time to let go of that guilt and prioritize your well-being! In this episode of The Balanced Educator Podcast, we share why self-care is crucial for educators and how it makes you a better teacher.

We discuss 5 key ways self-care positively impacts your teaching:

1. You’ll feel calmer, which will reflect in your students' behavior.

2. You’ll have space to respond mindfully, not react impulsively.

3. You’ll develop more compassion for yourself and your students.

4. You can’t pour from an empty cup—self-care helps you be the best version of yourself for your students.

5. You’ll gain a toolkit of strategies you can share with your students to help them develop their own emotional regulation and self-care habits.

By filling your own cup first, you’ll create a more balanced, mindful classroom.

Ditch Overwhelm: Mindfulness Strategies to Shift Perception and Find Balance in the Classroom Jul 02, 2018

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Are you feeling overwhelmed? In this episode of The Balanced Educator Podcast, we share powerful strategies to ditch overwhelm and regain balance in both your personal and professional life.

We discuss how we, as teachers, often create feelings of overwhelm ourselves and how shifting our perception—rather than the situation itself—can help us regain calm. This practice takes time, but it’s one of the most effective ways to feel more in control. We also share 3 actionable steps to shift your perception and reduce stress.

By cultivating mindfulness and becoming aware of our emotions, we can catch ourselves before overwhelm takes over. We also discuss how to teach children about perception using a simple visual exercise to help them manage their emotions more effectively.

Making Sense of Mindfulness: Practical Strategies for Teachers with Keith Macpherson, part 2 Jun 25, 2018

Show notes

Ready to bring mindfulness into your classroom? In this episode of The Balanced Educator Podcast, we continue our conversation with Keith Macpherson, mindfulness trainer, life coach, and author of Making Sense of Mindfulness. Keith reveals his powerful five-principle framework that simplifies mindfulness and helps you integrate it into daily life—both in and out of the classroom.

Keith's mindfulness framework includes:

Principle 1: Everything begins as an inner dream

Principle 2: Expose the saboteur

Principle 3: Open your mind

Principle 4: Be mindFULLY aware

Principle 5: I am

Beyond his mindfulness expertise, Keith is also a professional musician and a global speaker who has toured in over 20 countries. His insights are now inspiring thousands around the world through social media and his column in The Balance Magazine.

If you're looking for practical ways to reduce stress, boost focus, and enhance emotional well-being in your classroom, Keith’s framework will help you create a calm, balanced, and mindful teaching environment.

Making Sense of Mindfulness: Practical Strategies for Teachers with Keith Macpherson, part 1 Jun 18, 2018

Show notes

Unlock the power of mindfulness both in and out of the classroom! In this episode of The Balanced Educator Podcast, we sit down with mindfulness expert, life coach, and author, Keith Macpherson, to dive into practical strategies for integrating mindfulness into your daily life and teaching practice.

Keith, author of Making Sense of Mindfulness, shares his unique five-principal framework that helps simplify the concept of mindfulness and shows how it can be applied to reduce stress, increase focus, and promote well-being. We explore how mindfulness goes beyond seated practice and becomes a holistic way of living, improving our connection with ourselves, our bodies, and our surroundings.

In this inspiring conversation, Keith also touches on:

- How to listen to your body and trust your instincts

- The power of living in the present moment and how to harness it for better focus and creativity

- Practical tips for overcoming creative blocks and integrating mindfulness into your teaching

- The importance of teaching from intuition and not just focusing on the curriculum

- Keith's journey to writing his new book, Making Sense of Mindfulness

If you're looking for ways to incorporate mindfulness and SEL into your classroom, Keith’s insights will leave you inspired and ready to bring more balance and joy to your teaching practice.

Creating Calm Classrooms & Cultivating Growth Mindset Jun 11, 2018

Show notes

In this week’s episode of The Balanced Educator Podcast, we share valuable insights from our work in various schools across different divisions and the key factors contributing to positive school atmospheres.

We reveal the common thread between the happiest schools with the calmest classrooms, focusing on how mindfulness and growth mindset play crucial roles in creating a thriving educational environment.

We discuss the importance of teaching growth mindset, how we’ve applied it in our own journey as business owners, and why it’s more essential than ever. Plus, we walk you through one of our guided mindfulness practices from the Educalm’s growth mindset unit, designed to help both students and teachers cultivate resilience and embrace challenges.

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