Most of us are so committed to our students, colleagues, and schools that we are hesitant to take time off even when we really need it. Who will cover my class? What impact will my absence have on my students? Join us as we talk candidly about why many teachers feel guilty taking time off, why feeling comfortable taking off is essential, and explore ways to help make hitting pause more acceptable when needed.

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Dr. James L. Floman is an Associate Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. He received his PhD at the University of British Columbia, where he studied the effects of mindfulness and compassion meditation on teacher emotion regulation and prosocial behavior with Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl. Dr. Floman has three core research streams: 1) The assessment of dynamic social-affective processes (i.e., developing and validating EI and well-being measurement tools); 2) EI, mindfulness, and well-being training (i.e., developing, optimizing, and scaling EI and well-being-enhancement interventions for real-world applications); and 3) Affective neuroscience (studying mental training-induced changes in ‘emotional brain’ function and structure).

Joe Ferraro is currently in his 24th year as an educator, teaching English 12, Public Speaking, and Creative Writing. In addition to his work in the classroom, he is the founder of DamnGoodConversations.com, a company whose mission is to teach you repeatable ways to have the best conversations in your life and work. His flagship service is the weekly personal growth podcast One Percent Better. Every Sunday, Joe releases conversations with fascinating people like Mitch Albom, Seth Godin, Daniel Pink, James Clear and Debbie Millman designed to help people leverage small changes in mindset, language, and behavior in order to get life-changing results.

Recently named the 2023 Rhode Island Teacher of the Year, Lisa Leaheey has taught English at North Providence High School for the entirety of her 23-year career. A lifelong voracious reader and movie buff, she spends every day sharing her passion for stories with her students, and she continuously seeks out new ways to elevate her students’ individual strengths and to support their individual needs.

Benjamin Kitslaar is the principal of West Side Elementary School. He started his career teaching 4th and 5th grade and has been in administration for the last nine years. He’s a husband to his wife, Sarah, and father to two beautiful girls, who keep him busy!