Teach from Your Best Self

Jay Schroder has taught high school English and social studies for the past twenty-four years in both mainstream and alternative education settings. In 2021, he founded the Teach from Your Best Self Institute, an organization with a mission to support and inspire educators while advancing a new model for revitalizing education.

Introduction Part 1: The Challenge of Teaching 1. Attempting to Do an Impossible Job 2. Learning to Teach from My Best Self 3. Mapping the Brain: Teaching and the Stress Response System 4. The Role of ACEs and the Hurtspots They Leave Us With 5. Stress, Pressure, and Hurtspots in Students 6. Reckoning with the Impact of Culture Part 2: Skills and Principles that Matter 7. Return on Investment 8. The Best Self Model for Teaching and Learning 9. An Antidote to Decision Fatigue: Reaching Clarity through Reflective Writing 10. Spheres of Control and Influence 11. Applying Radical Acceptance to Teaching 12. Choose Yes 13. Saying "No" from Yes 14. Classroom Management: Know Your Prime Directive 15. Developing Field-Based Attention as an Antidote to Mental Fatigue 16. The Curiously Nourishing Power of Attention 17. The Vital Role of Positive Messages 18. The Importance of Positive Messages for Teachers Part 3: Tools for Emotionally Challenging Moments 19. Intervening in the Steps from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde 20. The Cool Pause 21. The Importance of Giving Triggered Students Space 22. Speaking the Language of the Limbic System 23. Using Counter-Stories to Recover from Hurtspot Reactions Part 4: Creating a Resilient Best Self 24. Having a Hand in the Stories that Make Us 25. Using Expressive Writing to Revise Hurtspot Stories 26. The Liberating Power of Radical Acceptance Conclusion: A New Direction Forward Acknowledgments References