Unlock Your Teaching Potential
Are you overwhelmed by the constant demands of teaching, wondering if you’ll ever feel balanced again? Do you feel like your identity as an educator has overshadowed the person you once were? Are you craving a way to rediscover your passion and purpose, not just in the classroom but in your life?
Welcome to Unlock Your Teaching Potential, your permission slip to hit the brakes, recharge, and reignite your joy for teaching and living.
I’m Dr. Jen Rafferty, a former music teacher, author, TEDX speaker, mom of 2, and founder of Empowered Educator. I’ve been where you are, navigating the burnout, the exhaustion, and the struggle to find time for yourself especially when life gets lifey. But I also know there’s another way, a path to thriving both as an educator and a human being.
This podcast is where we ditch the old ideas of what you “should” be doing and discover actionable steps to create a life you love. Each week, I’ll guide you through short, impactful episodes created to empower you with tangible tools to reclaim your energy, prioritize your well-being, and transform the way you show up for yourself, your students, and your family.
Together, we’ll rewrite the narrative of being in education from selfless superhero to becoming an empowered educator, one step at a time. Whether it’s embracing mindfulness, setting boundaries, or rediscovering what lights you up, you’ll leave each episode with strategies to help you lead a healthier, and more joyful life...which in turn will allow you to show up as your best self for your students and school communities.
If you’re ready to fuel your soul as an educator, this is the podcast for you!
So it’s time to recharge, refocus, and unlock your teaching potential! Our kids need you.
Unlock Your Teaching Potential
Struggling to keep your students engaged? Discover the keys to a classroom they'll love with Elijah Carbajal!
Have a question for the show? Text us here!
Do you feel like your students hate the idea of going to school? Are you running out of ideas to keep them engaged and excited about learning new things?
In this episode, I had a conversation with Elijah Carbajal, a teacher whose main drive is to make school a place for students to love. We dive into how he views school culture and how he transforms the teaching norms into what young kids would understand.
Elijah emphasizes how much better learning could be by using language or games or pop culture references that kids would understand. And by telling captivating stories and incorporating the subject matter within it as moral lessons, the students are kept engaged and wanting for more. As his book says, school becomes “A Place They Love.”
We also talked about the ways of keeping the school fun, engaging, and safe, and we challenged the notion that learning can either be fun or rigorous and hard. Elijah dials in on the truth that when things get more fun, learning becomes even more rigorous, except it becomes less hard and more engaging for the students.
Elijah’s stories will encourage you to be bolder, more creative, and more engaged with your students more than ever.
Ready to transform your classroom into a place that the students will love?
Tune in to this episode filled with inspiring stories and valuable takeaways!
Stay empowered,
Jen
Let’s keep the conversation going! Find me at:
Jen Rafferty | Instagram, YouTube, Facebook | Linktree
Instagram: @jenrafferty_
Facebook: Empowered Educator Faculty Room
About Elijah:
Elijah is a teacher, like his mom, uncle, and grandparents before him. He has been teaching in the state of New Mexico since 2014, currently working in the Albuquerque Public School district. Elijah enjoys podcasting about all things educational and listening to podcasts created by his friends in education, some of which he has been honored to be a guest on. He is the host of The Shut Up and Teach Podcast and the author of the book A Place They Love: Creating a Healthy School Culture and Positively Impacting Students. Elijah strives to make school a place that students love to be at by creating fun, safe, and engaging experiences and environments for all students. By challenging the norms of what education should look, act, and feel like, Elijah has created exciting opportunities for authentic learning to take place. Outside of the classroom, he can be found running, listening to or creating music, reading, or relaxing with his cat, Nala.
Connect with Elijah:
Twitter: @carbaeli
IG: @carbaeli
Stay empowered,
Jen
Let’s keep the conversation going! Find me at:
empowerededucator.com/resources
Instagram: @jenrafferty_
Facebook: Empowered Educator Faculty Room