In this episode, I have invited the incredible Janelle McDaniel, from halfway across the world, to come on the podcast and have a chat about her teaching journey, which I find so inspiring and so fascinating, with the pivots that she has made along the way.

Janelle McDaniel is an educator who serves a high school community outside of Palm Springs, California. She has been in education for over 15 years serving in various roles. For 14 years she served as the lead teacher in classrooms for students with moderate to severe disabilities. While serving students with exceptional needs she also became a coach and mentor to new teachers entering the field.

Over a year ago, Janelle made the switch from special education to a new position in her district as a Wellness Center Intervention Teacher. She created a wellness program on her high school campus that is now a model program for other schools in her district. Through this position, Janelle has been able to bring mindfulness and social-emotional learning programs to all students on her campus. She has a passion for helping students navigate the difficult times that come up during their teenage years and providing them with tools to help manage their stress.

She is an advocate for student mental health as well as educator wellness and believes that in order for students to understand the importance of social-emotional learning and personal wellness, teachers must embody what that looks like. She has a masters degree in Education, is a certified Social-Emotional Learning Facilitator, and a 200-hour certified yoga instructor. She encourages all educators to put their well-being first and helps teachers create boundaries and set up wellness programs to help them reach their goals.

In this episode, Janelle shares the following:

• her story about stepping out of her comfort zone into a new role outside of the classroom
• the importance and the value of stepping out of your comfort zone, and not being afraid of trying new things and developing new skills within the education industry
• how she has carved out a role that is unique to her in her new role as a Wellness Centre Intervention Teacher
• the juggle of being mum, wife, teacher and coach and how she makes it work 

You can find Janelle on Instagram here.

Further Links:
1-1 Teacher Wellbeing Coaching with Paige
Instagram
LinkedIn