“I really wanted to be a ‘good teacher’ so I said yes to almost every request just to get approval.” At the heart of it all was the feeling that “I wasn’t enough,” says Meredith Newlin. Our guest now knows she went too far and believes she’s not alone. As we head into another exceptionally demanding school year, Meredith hopes the lessons she learned will inspire others who are struggling with similar feelings.

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Meredith Newlin is entering her 17th year teaching secondary English. Her passion and purpose are to help motivate and inspire educators to rediscover—and keep— their joy for the teaching profession. She is the author of Captured Fireflies: Truths, Mistakes, And Other Gifts Of Being an English Teacher and Freed To Teach: 7 Keys To Thrive In an Era Of Uncertainty. She is also the creator of The Transformed Teacher podcast as well as a variety of workshops, online courses, and programs for teachers. She also coaches teachers who want to finish and launch their own books.

I’ve made many mistakes while overseeing pandemic learning in my district. Among them, I’ve found that too often I jump to hasty conclusions when teaching and learning are not happening as expected. Over the last year, I’ve learned the single most important thing I can do when virtual school isn’t working.

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Dr. Neil Gupta is the Director of Secondary Education for Worthington City Schools and Past-President of the Ohio Association of Secondary Schools Administrators Association. He co-moderates #ohedchat and #leadupchat, and he writes blogs for BAM! Radio Network.

I was eager to catch up and move our teachers and school forward despite the ongoing pandemic. Regretfully, I was out of touch with what my teachers were going through and I pushed too hard.

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Benjamin Kitslaar is the principal of West Side Elementary School. He started his career teaching 4th and 5th grade and has been in administration for the last nine years. He's a husband to his wife, Sarah, and father to two beautiful girls, who keep him busy!