EP224 Deciding what matters: Authentic teaching through setting boundaries (with Gerardo Munoz)

How do you develop confidence in your teaching when you're constantly hearing about everything you're doing wrong? How do you know what you should and shouldn't be focusing on, and discern what's a good use of your time and what's not? And most importantly, how can you be sure you're showing up as the person your students need you to be? Answering these questions is a personal, lifelong journey, and I think the answers from my guest today will really get you thinking about how to answer those questions for yourself. I'm talking with Gerardo Muñoz, a teacher of middle and high school social studies who was named Colorado's 2021 Teacher of the Year. Gerardo is here to share how his teaching identity has been shaped over the years, and how he's learned to prioritize what matters most. He discusses how he's developed the confidence to live and teach authentically, and ways he supports his students in also truly being themselves: "I'm like every kid's hype man. I think that most of what we bring into our classrooms as teachers is the work that we've done on ourselves. That happens before we can work on our students. And so, I have to create a mindset in myself that says, 'Every single...