This one’s from a while back about a teacher who was so fed up with a student who was a huge “pain in the ass” that she wanted to quit. Right then and there.

And I’ll be damned if she didn’t turn that relationship around in the most dramatic way.

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

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Joe and I talk about the difficult circumstances surrounding this teacher’s and this student’s situation and the hypotheses she and I came up with that helped her return to school and dig into their relationship. It’s kind of a miraculous story imho.

This story is relevant to non-teachers, too, in that it encourages openness to but also curiosity about behavior that might seem weird but might actually be an unnervingly pointed cry for help. Which some of us are in positions to respond to — without being nefarious saviors!

We discuss

* nefarious saviors

* furries and Joe’s and my amazingly limited knowledge of them

* why students might actually court negative attention

* doing aikido with super irritating students

* the fine line between caring too much and not caring enough

* Joe’s awesome alliterative axiom

Share your thoughts! Leave a comment! Share this episode! Share a story of your own with us! 413.239.4158. We love hearing from you!

And there's more…

I’m so eager to hear from you that my team and I have put together a survey to get a mid-season formative assessment from my listeners. I really want to hear what you like, don’t like, want to hear or read, etc. Please take a few minutes to give me your honest feedback! I’m a therapist, so I can take the truth.

As incentive, anyone who responds will have their email address put in a nice hat from which I will pull a winner — of a TTE “Stay in Your Effin’ Garden” T-shirt! I myself have one (as you might imagine), and I love it. Soft, perfect fit, extremely useful message. Get to that survey as soon as is humanly possible — we’ll pull the winner on Valentine’s Day. Wow! What a love-ly gift!!

Teaching through Emotions is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Credits

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris

Co-Host: Joe Johnson

Producer: Jullian Androkae of PodVision

Audience Development: Andreea Coscai of PodVision

Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout