Teaching through Emotions: psychological strategies and resources for educators

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 mess...

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 ri...

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...

Listen now on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts . (Me around the time of this interview. I haven’t changed a bit.) The interview took place in 2018, but it still perfectly captures the work I do and the reasons for it. We discuss: - Why Education: What called me into the world of education and what keeps me there. - Why Teachers and Administrators: Why I shifted my focus...

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...

In this special season finale, I sit down 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. Listen now on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or where...

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 discuss: - Self-Erasure: Why avoidance leads to disappearing in your own classroom and how to reclaim your...

In this episode, I’m joined by 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,...

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 now on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever y...

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 hersel...

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.) Listen now on  Apple Podcasts ,  Spotify , or  wherever you get your podcasts . W...

In this episode, I sit down with an old and dear friend, Sarah Becker, who has been teaching students and 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 don’t? What can teachers at the elementary through graduate levels afford t...

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. Listen now on **Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or **wherever you get your podcasts . We discuss: * The Need to Cheat: The outrageous lengths one student went to in order...

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Today Julia, a former school leader, joins the TTE classroom. She recounts the evolution of her leadership style and why so many school cultures are in crisis. Finding herself overwhelmed by student chaos and employee turnover, Julia implemented a merit-demerit system to regain control. It became clear fairly quickly that this top-down approach suppressed student voice and damaged relationships. W...

Today, Kristabel Stark joins the TTE classroom. She is a researcher specializing in teacher emotions and teacher burnout. Kristabel highlights how educators are constantly performing emotional labor and regulating their personal feelings, which can be hard work. As an expert, she switches the conversation from feelings as burdensome to data that educators can use. Listen now on **Apple Podcasts ,...

Today, Erica Young joins the TTE classroom. She’s an award-winning practitioner in the restorative classroom: a therapeutic environment designed for students with severe social-emotional needs. She tells the story of Helen, a withdrawn student who “came back to life” as a result of Erica’s strategies — none of which are based on disciplinary measures. Listen now on **Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or...

Today we’re in my classroom! Like many people, I used to feel the urge to control and fix every difficult conversation. In this episode, you’ll hear what happened when I leaned back instead of leaning in: genuine curiosity and psychological findings. Listen now on **Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or **wherever you get your podcasts . We discuss: * Wu Wei: Applying the ancient philosophy of non-doing *...

Today, we’re in two teachers’ classrooms. In this episode, they make sense of their feelings of overwhelmedness and confusion. 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! Listen now on **Apple Podcasts , Spot...

Today we’re in Jenny’s classroom. Her lesson was completely derailed after one student’s surprising accusation. It turned her regular day into AFGO (Another F*ing Growth Opportunity). Switching her mindset from looking at this as a personal failure to psychodynamic understanding changed everything for her and the classroom. Listen now on **Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or **wherever you get your podc...

Today we’re in Leona’s classroom. She’s a science teacher with an unpredictable student. He has outbursts and she’s had it. Together, we unpack how she can repair their connection by reading his defiant reactions — and threat of violence — as a need for attachment. Listen now on **Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or **wherever you get your podcasts . We discuss: * The Academic Trap: Why focusing just on...

This is a story of conflict between two colleagues — something that might be familiar to you, dear listener. And it’s a story of self-awareness, owning your shit, and repair. Things that might not be as familiar (though I hope they are). This story is about a teacher, but any human being can benefit from listening. How many of you have hung up on a colleague (or wanted to)? How many of you have be...

Today we’re in Penelope’s classroom. She’s dealing with a disruptive student that she just can’t get a read on. We unpack how unconscious communication through students’ negative behavior can be a blessing in disguise and what to do with it. Listen now on **Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or **wherever you get your podcasts . We discuss: * The Teacher’s Lounge: Why storytelling is a tool for navigating...

Today we’re in Veronica’s classroom. Veronica is exhausted and ready to quit today . Her students are resistant to the book she’s teaching and she’s completely depleted of energy, disengaged and detached. How can she turn this around? What if the secret isn’t more control but a shift in how she looks at relationships? Listen now on **Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or **wherever you get your podcasts ....

Today, we’re in Lawrence’s classroom. He’s a seasoned teacher whose instruction was being challenged by a student, Edward. Lawrence’s buttons were constantly being pushed! Which meant he got defensive and sarcastic. How did he turn this around? Listen to hear how Lawrence used his triggers to understand his underlying vulnerabilities, starting with a fear of not knowing. Listen now on **Apple Podc...