Good morning and welcome everybody back for season two of the Middle School Mary Poppins podcast. I'm so excited that you're back and I'm really stoked to tell you that we have some interesting things coming up for you this season. What I'm going to be doing is we're going to take little like fun size nuggets of topics and we're going to discuss them things like for today we're going to talk about test anxiety. This season we're going to talk about neurodivergency, grandparents, talking about emotional intelligence and all kinds of really good stuff. So we're going to take each of these topics and noodle through them together and hopefully your child and you and everyone can learn a little bit something new. And I think that would be great. Hi, I'm Suzanne M. Swain. I am now a educational specialist EDS and LMSW, licensed master of social work here in the state of lovely Tennessee, Queen Dolly of course. And I am really happy to be back with you. I recorded the first season of my edu story telling of sorts back in August and I have waited until today to record another podcast. And the reason why is I wanted to spend that time with my kids. I wanted to learn from them and find out everything I could about how they work and what a therapy kind of environment could be like if I maybe change the rhetoric a little bit because a fourth of people are afraid to seek mental health support because they feel that they're going to get judged and I hear a lot. So I want to try to break some stereotypes and I feel like we all need to know some things and maybe it needs a teacher. Maybe teachers need to come back and come back in a big way and say, y'all come on now. So we just maybe need a little bit of happy juju to get us going again, right? So it's the end of the school year and I have learned so much. I have been through a roller coaster with my kiddos. I had pre-K all the way through fourth grade and let me tell you, my pre-K and my fourth grade wore me out. And that's really interesting, isn't it? Because the pre-K kids, these are all the COVID kids. So I'm starting to see some things that are going on and we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about COVID kids. We're going to talk about dealing with toddlers and little ones and we're going to talk about the big ones, which is where my expertise lies especially. And I'm going to bring in a lot of good friends to help me out and if I don't know the answer, I'm going to find someone that does. So there you go. I want this season to be much more true life. And see in teaching, we have this thing called, I do, you do, we do. So the first season, I wanted to show you what I can do. Here's what I can do. Let me talk to you about how I teach. So let me teach for you. So that's what I was doing. I was trying to teach you some allegories, little more things and stuff and trying to get you some information in your brain and get you thinking in a creative mindset. Well, I do. That was last season. You do this season. So now we're going to do the work. You and I, your kids, your dog, everybody, we are all going to get together and on the way to school, we're going to work on stuff. Okay? You can do it. We got this. And I would like to introduce my right hand man, my absolute 100% best dude in the whole wide world, Lieutenant Steve, who is sleeping on a blanket right now and looks like he had a really rough night because he almost looks like a little Swiffer mop. But Lieutenant Steve, he has moved up in ranks. Every year I let him move up a rank if he's been a good dog. And of course, he's always a good boy. He is a white schnauzer, cocker, mix thing. He's real shaggy. He looks like Falcorp from the Rending Story. And he unfortunately has a terrible bout of dermatitis at this point. So he's very itchy. So we're going to take him to the vet and all that kind of stuff. But he woke up. Lieutenant Steve, he put his head down. So cute. He's here by my side and the cats are always around. I have lots of cats and Neville is the king of all cats. And he just went outside for the day. So he's my great happy. I have lots of animal friends and lots of adult friends and kid friends and all kinds of people that I want to introduce you to. So we're going to take a little tour around my neighborhood in a kid friendly, family friendly show where we talk about real life issues and how we can try to make things better. Because I really want to help y'all because I can only do so much. I'm just in a tiny, cute little town in Tennessee. But maybe this is my way to shoot a rocket ship up to the moon and say, hey, I'm going to put a neon sign up here, right? Because folks, if you're living in the upside down, build Disneyland. I mean, we got to figure out a way to make this work. And you can't fix stupid, right? Well, I don't know. But we're going to do our best. So today we're going to talk about test anxiety. Today, loudy. These high stakes testing that the kids are subjected to are word of the day, asinine, a-s-i-n-i-n-e, asinine, meaning silly, worthless, pointless, stupid. Kids really like saying that word because they think they're saying something else. But every good teacher knows that all of these end of the year tests are all a bunch of politicians wanting to get their data and blah, blah, blah, blogging, blah, blah. Yeah, we know that. We know this. But what families don't know is that that's all tied to that. And of course, everybody's got to take our end of the year tests and we comply and we work our tails off to make sure everything is spit-spot ready to go. But that doesn't help the little kiddo that's terrified of going into that test that day. Who doesn't realize that test isn't like everything in the entire world? Because that's what they think it is. But you know that. They don't know that. So kiddo, are you going to take a test today? Okay, look. Let me talk to you. It's going to be fine. This is a hurdle. In the world, you have to jump over hurdles. It's kind of like a marathon. H hurdles are like things you have to jump over. It could be a rock. It could be a big step. It could be anything. But you have to go over it to see what's on the other side. Right? You have to be an adventurer. And I think that's the key. I think that maybe we lost our adventurous spirit somewhere and I want to try to bring that back. So let's find it. Okay? So you have a test. So let's think about your test. Right? How do you outsmart your own test? You can do it. Oh yeah. For example, these state tests, asinine, that the kids have to take. I get data and all that. I have mad respect for numbers. But every good teacher knows portfolio assessment is the way to go. And we just don't have a way to be able to make that work and nobody will listen to us to say so. So we've got to take the bubble test. But kiddo, when you're taking the test, you're going to have multiple choice. Right? And that multiple choice will have four answers, A, B, C, and D. Now, if they're mean, they might put all of the above or none of the above. But we'll get to that later. All right. So there are four answers. So what you want to do is read the question and look for any key words. I want you to really look for words that say all, always, sometimes, mostly. Words that kind of mess with time because that's a clue. See you got to be like, blah, blah, blah, like blues clues. And look for the clue. So the clue is the words. So look for words that say, like, I always do this or I never do that. Anything that bends time, that is a signifier that maybe just maybe you're off the track. So give it a shot. Okay. So now you could probably knock out one or two of the answers. Now there's always a wild card. Okay. A wild card is one that kind of throws you off balance. So there's one that does not belong. Right? So if you look at all four answers and say, which one of these is not like the other? Which one of these kind of the same? It's like that. It's like from Sesame Street back in the day. Y'all, you need to go watch that. And so when you figure out what the difference is, you're like, oh, well, that one's definitely not right. And usually that's a different answer. So now you're just down to two. Well, I think you got a sporting shot after that, right? So this test, time, you can't stop time. Believe me, I have been chasing time my entire life. Time and I are, it's kind of like anxiety. It's like your best friend and your worst enemy all in the same. But time is going to pass. Period. Just, it will pass. The test will happen. You're going to be fine. It's a hurdle. You just got to jump through things to prove that you can do things. It's in sports. In sports, you've got to train, right? So why isn't it not the same thing in school? Teachers, we're sitting here all day doing brain training with you to make that brain as strong and powerful as possible. But perhaps we have not gotten the, from what I've learned this year, the message across that the reason why we are learning all this stuff is that we're really trying to beef up your brain and get it all jacked. I've spent my entire life trying to jack my brain. I've read over 7,000 books in my life. Yeah. I've written three dissertation papers for fun. I am like ridiculous nerd. I just want to know everything. I cannot stop learning. I have to learn. If I don't learn, I feel like I'm going to die. I think that also is something really important. So if you're dealing with test anxiety, day kiddos, it's not about the test. It's about what did you learn? What do you take from it? When you walk away, what did you remember? So think about that. Think about what you learned when you took all of the classes and all of the activities and things you did to get ready for the test. Think about that and calm down. Because also one thing I've learned this year is that I can turn off my emotional brain and my thinking brain, but I have autism. So I can do that. I don't think other people can do that. I don't live in someone else's brain, so I can't tell you this, but maybe I can help you to show you how to kind of say inside out characters. Can you take a seat? Let sadness run the show for a little while because we need intelligence and emotional empathy and all that stuff to run it down for a while. Anxiety, we're going to sit you down, girl. But anxiety is a great helper. Anxiety is a great helper. So don't forget that. Anxiety is just imagination, not having any fun. Anxiety is extremely capable. So if you're feeling stressed about this test, that's anxiety. You are capable. That's showing me right now that you are capable of doing this test. Yeah, that's right. You can do it. You're going to be fine. What are they going to do? It's like I'm not going to put you on a raft and send you out and hope you get the Valhalla someday. This is not the end of times. This test is a simple little hurdle to cross into a much bigger field of beautiful rainbows and flowers. So you're going to be fine. Now I told you I would tell you about that like all the above, none of the above. When they put all the above and none of the above on tests, okay, generally I have found that the answer is usually A, B, or C. But you want to check. You do want to check math. I'm mathing. I try to think of it as puzzling. I do my best, but I am not a math person. My mother was such a math person, but I am not math. They could probably explain it much better than me. But statistically, I have seen, and from the classes I've taken on how to learn tests, and I kind of infiltrated the state testing system to find out how things were done so I could work the system the best to my ability. Anyway, so the point is that none of the above or all of the above, none or all of the above, or all, that's pretty serious. So it's kind of like bending time, right? So try to think of it that way. Okay, so you're going to take this little test and then boom, the rest of the day is going to bounce from there. So boom and bounce is what I'd like to say. Just go boom and bounce. So kiddo, you're going to have a great day. You're going to do fine on the test. You got this. And if I'm talking to an adult, then your inner kiddo is scared too. And if this helps you, good, that's great. I'm happy for you, but I'm proud of you and I want you to be better. That's why I'm doing this podcast right now. I want everybody to be better. And I think it may just take a teacher. So I'm giving it a shot. Now, hi Steve. Well, Steve's awake and I've got to go take him for a walk. So I'll say goodbye for now and I will record another episode on emotional intelligence and grandparents and stuff. Maybe even later on today. I don't know. We'll see what I'm inspired to do. But I want to tell you all that we have a new website, MaryPoppins.com. All of the episodes of the podcast are going to be listed there. I do this podcast for free. I pay for it out of my own pocket, out of my paycheck. I made a GoFundMe page. If y'all want to help out and throw a little candy in the candy jar, that's cool because I am broke as a joke, y'all. But I have a tendency to spend a lot of my money on my kids, but not in the sense of buying them gifts or anything, but I buy cool stuff for the room. Like an Oculus. We're going to talk about virtual reality therapy and why everyone should do virtual reality. Oh, yes. Maybe I'll do that one next. I don't know. We'll see. So this season, microbytes, little topics, lots of discussion, working through those emotions, and then next season, you do. That's where I'm going to go out and talk to you guys about what all you're doing in your neighborhoods. So season three is going to be a lot of fun, but I'm going to record probably, I don't know, maybe 15 or 20 episodes in little bites this season. So stay tuned. Check it out. I'll be back with you as soon as I can. And I hope everybody has a wonderful day. Stay clever, little foxes, and go ace that test. You got this. Come on now.
