Kim Strobel:
Hi. Everyone, and welcome to the she Finds Joy podcast. And I can’t believe it, but I’m actually bringing on a guest today. Most of you know I do this solo. I used to bring on guests, but it was kind of time intensive and I was doing so much content production that I was like, I’m just going to do a solo show. But Pilar, who works for me on the Strobel education team, she sent me this video from Instagram and she’s like, you’ve got to check out this teacher. And so the teacher was Ms. Hannah Geller. And Hannah was doing affirmations with her first graders. She was so vibrant and so vivacious and so young. And she was doing belief systems with first graders, which is what I’m all about. It’s what I did with my own fourth graders. It’s what I do in my own life. And so I was immediately captivated by not just how she had engaged her students, but how she was downloading in them subconsciously and consciously belief systems that would help them succeed. So I’m not gonna lie, I know that people are like, well, Kim Strobel, you speak all across the country. Well, let me tell you what, when I saw Hannah’s following of like 150k, I was like, who am I to reach out to her? But I went for it because Pilar was like, you gotta do it. So today, everyone, you are going to get to experience Ms. Hannah Geller. And I want to tell you a little bit about her. She is only 25. She has taught kindergarten, second grade, and she currently teaches first grade. And here’s what I love that she said, she said. Early in my teaching career, I noticed an overwhelming amount of of social media content focused on teacher burnout and reasons to leave the profession. While I fully acknowledge the challenges educators face, I felt called to share a different perspective rooted in joy, purpose and impact. Through my classroom and my social media presence, I aim to encourage teachers, especially young, and inspiring educators to write their own teaching stories and reconnect with why they chose this profession. I am best known for incorporating daily positive affirmations in my classroom, empowering students to build confidence, resilience and self belief from an early age. My mission is to remind both students and teachers that joy still exists in education and that teaching can be meaningful, fulfilling and happy. Welcome to the she finds joy podcast, Ms. Hannah Geller.
Hannah Gellar:
Thank you so much. What a warm welcome. Thank you.
Kim Strobel:
You are. I mean, like, I feel like I need to hire this girl on this troubleed team, but I don’t think I can rip her out of the classroom just yet.
Hannah Gellar:
Not yet, no.
Kim Strobel:
She’s too important. But I’m like, she screams everything that the Strobel Education brand is about, and yet she’s a living, breathing in the classroom. She is so busy and so on fire with what she’s doing that it was even hard for us to come up with a time to do this recording. But then snow helped us, and she got a snow day today. And you’re located down in Charlotte, North Carolina, right?
Hannah Gellar:
We are, yep.
Kim Strobel:
Oh, my goodness. Okay. Well, I am just super excited for my people. We have listeners who are teachers, but we also have listeners who are not teachers. And I would say the majority of our listeners are women in particular. So I love that you. You understand that the why of this profession is so important. And I do a keynote called remember your why and reconnect to your purpose. So I have to ask you, when did you first know that you wanted to be a teacher? And why, Hannah, did you choose this profession?
Hannah Gellar:
That’s a great question. I would say my story begins pretty cliche. I was the girl when I was six years old, making my little brother play teacher in a basement. I remember the teacher store I made my mom bring me to in the mall where I would just look at the border. And I just, like, dreamed of being a teacher. But as I got older, I didn’t have many teachers in my family, and I started hearing this noise of, maybe you should choose something else. The pay for teaching isn’t great. And. And that was around high school, when social media was slowly coming out, and it just didn’t seem. I had this dream of being a teacher, but it didn’t seem like it would fulfill me in the way that people were portraying it. So I actually went into college undecided, and I went to High Point University, and they have a great undecided program where they match you with a coach and you do personality tests and IQ tests, and it basically, they help you decide what you may be good at or what you want to do. And I’ll never forget she sat me down, like, three weeks in the program, and she held my hand and said, baby, you were made to teach. You want to be a teacher. And I was like, yeah, I do. I always have. But that day, I signed to go the elementary education route, and I have never, ever regretted it. So I would say I’ve always known, and I feel like God was always in my ear, and I was kind of like, no, no. And I think a lot of that resistance was from what I was hearing from the outside noise. But through then I had internships, I did the year long student teaching and every milestone of interacting with children, learning new things. I’ve never regretted my decision of being a teacher.
Kim Strobel:
And you had a whole year because back when I was in it, we had one semester of student teaching, but you had a whole year of it.
Hannah Gellar:
Yeah. So we started my senior year right in the fall. I actually was there, I think the second week of school. And that was like an observational period where we were just in there a few days a week. And then we once went after Christmas break, we were there full time and that’s when we started to take over subjects from.
Kim Strobel:
Well, so here’s how my story went. I went to, to college and I was going to major in business and I wanted to be this big like CEO. And I saw myself in this skyscraper scraper building in New York City. And then I got completely derailed because I suffered from panic disorder, which went undiagnosed for a very long time. And so I quit colle and I was going for a walk with my girlfriend one time and I was contemplating going back to college. And she said, I really think that you should consider teaching. She’s like, you work the hours of eight to three and you get the summers off. And I’m like, I’m in. If that’s what it is, I’m in. This is like 25 years ago when they literally probably they worked a little bit more than that. But it really wasn’t quite as intense as it is now. But as I look back, I was always like, I loved babysitting, I loved being around kids. I’ve always been the person, the adult who’s like always playing with the kids and interacting with them. And so I can honestly say that I went into it because you got the summers off.
Hannah Gellar:
Yeah.
Kim Strobel:
And, and but it ended up just being like you. It just ended up being such a great fit for me and how I wanted to serve. And so I love when, you know, the divine kind of orchestrates that for us. I find it so interesting. So a lot of my previous episodes have been focused on the power of our belief systems. And what we know is that really only about 5% of how we show up and do life, everything from our, our confidence levels, what we think about, our intelligence levels, our talent levels, how we navigate relationships, how we navig navigate our careers. 95% of that, Hannah, comes from the subconscious mind and only 5% comes from our conscious thinking mind. Yet Most of us think that it comes from our conscious mind. And so I’ve really dove into these episodes where I’ve explained that the subconscious mind is kind of the dark room. It’s kind of the back part of the brain, so to speak, where not really cognizant of what’s going on. It’s just automaticity. But it’s actually where all your beliefs live, all the beliefs that you have about yourself. And that most of a person’s beliefs were formed between the ages of 0 and 6. And unless. Unless you or somebody shows you how to extract those beliefs and how to download new ones so that you navigate life differently. And so when I saw you doing these affirmations with these students who were, what are they, six and seven years old?
Hannah Gellar:
Six and seven, but I did it with kindergarten. So five and six, too.
Kim Strobel:
Yes. Okay, so how did you to me, because I’ve been in the self help world for 20 years. I did those in my own classroom. And I knew the importance of it even back when it was like, woo, woo. And you shouldn’t be doing stuff like that with kids. But like, where did this idea of affirmations being important in your own teaching philosophy come about?
Hannah Gellar:
I’d like to say it was through all this research, but it kind of happened by chance. I got my master’s in educational leadership and we read. I don’t know the exact book, but we read about just positive self talk and how to start your day on a positive. No. One of my favorite books is make your bed. The first thing you should do in the morning is make your bed. Right. And so I. The first year of teaching in my kindergarten classroom, I just decided to do it one day, say positive affirmations to my students and have them repeat back to me. And those affirmations are the affirmations that I’ve been doing for four years. I’m awesome. I’m smart. I’m strong.
Kim Strobel:
Yeah, let’s do some of them. Let’s do it. And I’ll be like the student.
Hannah Gellar:
Okay. All right. I’m awesome.
Kim Strobel:
I’m awesome.
Hannah Gellar:
I’m smart.
Kim Strobel:
I’m smart.
Hannah Gellar:
I’m strong.
Kim Strobel:
I’m strong.
Hannah Gellar:
I’m loved.
Kim Strobel:
I’m loved.
Hannah Gellar:
I’m a leader.
Kim Strobel:
I’m a leader.
Hannah Gellar:
They like this one. I’m good looking.
Kim Strobel:
I’m good looking.
Hannah Gellar:
I can do hard things.
Kim Strobel:
I can do hard things.
Hannah Gellar:
I can make mistakes.
Kim Strobel:
I can make mistakes.
Hannah Gellar:
It’s okay.
Kim Strobel:
It’s okay to make mistakes. To make mistakes.
Hannah Gellar:
I’m kind.
Kim Strobel:
I’m kind. I listen I listen.
Hannah Gellar:
I’m respectful.
Kim Strobel:
I’m respectful.
Hannah Gellar:
I’m a good kid.
Kim Strobel:
I’m a good kid.
Hannah Gellar:
And I’m going to have a great day.
Kim Strobel:
And I’m going to have a great day.
Hannah Gellar:
Good job. Kiss your head, kiss your heart, and then love it.
Kim Strobel:
Guys, we’re doing all these hand gestures, too. If you’re not watching the video, there’s hand gestures that go with all of this that you guys can watch and implement yourself. And so you were doing those with yourself, and then you decided, I’m going to do those with the students.
Hannah Gellar:
Yeah. I wouldn’t say I did the hand gestures to myself, but I think your first year of teaching, there’s a lot of anxiety to it. So I started saying them to myself to get ready, and then I started doing them with my students. And the first time, like, feels a little silly, but, you know, in kindergarten, they’ll just do whatever you say. So they did it. They loved the hand motions. And I would say I started realizing, like, oh, I’m onto something probably like a month in to doing it every single day when. So I would do them every single morning before we do any academic work. So they’d come in, we would have morning meeting, morning circle, do calendar time, do a greeting, and then we would close that time with affirmations, just reminding ourselves that we’ve got this. We’re ready for the day. All right. Let the learning begin. And I would say, a month in, I remember we were doing chaining. And if you’re not an educator, training in kindergarten is just on a board, and you’re adding the beginning sounds or taking them away to make new words. And there was a young boy up there trying to decode the word, and he was struggling, and he was a struggling reader. And my class was silent and patient while he was trying to figure it out. Class of 22 kindergarteners. And before I even could, like, open my mouth, one of the little girls from one side of the carpet said, it’s okay to make mistakes. And then another girl from the other side said, you can do hard things. And I just was like, all right, I can go home now. It was just like, I get chills when I think about it, and it’s. And then I was like, whoa. So I’m telling myself things, and then I’m telling my kids to say things about themselves, but now they’re saying it about each other. And that’s when I was like, okay, we’re gonna. We’re gonna keep doing this. And it really. Throughout the year and all the grades I’ve taught, like, it starts being something that you want the children to instill in themselves, right? You want them to think positively about themselves. And I could go on and on and how children need to be safe and feel loved before they can learn, right? Because if they don’t feel safe to make mistakes, then they’re not going to fully learn and reach their best potential. And it just created like this positive community where, yes, I would tell them sometimes, like, so you’re so smart to a friend that like, answered a question correctly, or we do affirmations before any testing, but then they started doing them to each other. And that’s kind of where the domino effect of affirmation starts, right? It starts with you. And then you can bring it on to other people, just like I brought it on to them. How it came to be that it
Kim Strobel:
really does tear me up because, you know, I have all of these practices that are a part of my daily life. They are energy practices that help me get my own vibration aligned for the day. And I also believe in. In manifesting in my ability to co create with, with God and to affirm what it is that I want to come into my life. And I feel like that’s how I started my business. Hannah. I ran 40 miles a week. And on every run for three years, I saw myself reaching and supporting and encouraging and inspiring educators. I saw them in the crowd. I felt my love for them and their love for me. And I affirmed in my brain and in my heart and in my mind that this is what I was supposed to be doing. And so affirmation work has been huge just in my own life. And then of course, I started to do it with students, but I felt like I don’t think I did it to the level that you are talking about. And I would encourage anybody who’s listening to this episode, whether you’re a teacher or a parent, like, this is a success skill. I taught it to my son Spencer, when he was young. Now he’s 25. I don’t know. He knows his mother does affirmations. I’m not sure if he incorporates it, but I’m actually going to. I’m going to pull up because I took a picture of it this morning when I was working out my basement. And so I created like, I had somebody do this, like, wooden board and I put it behind his toilet. Hannah. So every morning when he would get up to pee, like, it would be right there for him. And I’m actually pulling up on the screen for Those of you that may be watching on YouTube, I emailed it to myself. So let me just go in here real quickly and we’re gonna see all of Kim Strobel’s crazy emails. But let me find it because I purposely. Okay, so here it is. And so can you see it, Hannah?
Hannah Gellar:
Yep.
Kim Strobel:
Okay, so here’s the one that, that I had for my son. It says, today is going to be a good day. I am strong. I am smart. I am courageous. I persevere through challenges. If I fall, I get back up. Mistakes help me learn. I can always improve. I am resilient and have grit. I work hard. I am determined. I empower others. I am positive. I ignore negative influences. I can do anything, but not everything. I am a learner and always growing. I am respectful. I am amazing just as I am. I’m not better than anyone. Nobody’s better than me. I am blessed. I believe in myself. I create my life with God. And so he would see that every morning, right? Because I wanted to instill in him these belief systems. Now, what I would encourage the listeners to do is you, as a class or as a family or as a mother or a father, you can actually decide what you want your affirmations to be. You know, Hannah’s given you an example of the ones that she uses in her classroom. I’ve given you an example. But, like, I would very much encourage you to do this with your own children. The other part that I love, Hannah, is that you, you make them kiss themselves. Now, I, I used to run a high end women’s coaching program, and the number one issue with most women is they don’t know how to love themselves. And because they don’t know how to love themselves, they don’t realize that they’re deserving of happiness. And they don’t know how to prioritize happiness because if they prioritize it, they feel really guilty because they don’t realize that they’re allowed to love themselves enough to know that they count in the equation of life. And so one of the things I will tell them to do is in the morning when they’re in front of the mirror to actually kiss their arm or kiss their hand. And if we tell everybody right now to do it, like let’s you and I do it, Hannah. We are super comfortable because we do that with one, with each other, right? With ourselves. But I tell people, you must learn to love yourself. And that is what we’re trying to teach these students, these children too. You’re actually downloading new belief systems inside of them by the repetition over and over. Because we know that repetition is what the subconscious mind begins to absorb, right? It begins to absorb repetition. So, like, for me, one of my current affirmations. Because the other thing about affirmations is when you’re saying them, it’s okay if you don’t feel that way yet, because over time, the more you repeat them, the more you start to believe in them, the more you start to visualize in them, the more apt they are to become true for you. But I am in the process of sort of coming up with my idea to write my second book. And I really, really, really want it to be a New York Times bestseller, Hannah, because I really, really want to help people, and I want to help a lot of people. And so one of my aff is I am getting a download from God on how to write this book, and he’s lining up a writing partner and a publisher to help me bring it in as a New York Times bestseller. That’s one of my affirmations. Because I’m wanting to download, because honestly, right now, Hannah, I’m, like, stuck. I don’t even know what to write. I just know. I think there’s a second book in me, but I’m feeling, like, a lot of inadequacies around it. But the more I repeat this to myself, I think I don’t have to have it all figured out, right? There’s a magic available to me in the universe that wants to help me do this. So. Oh, my gosh. I. Okay, so you’ve told us how you do it. You kind of like one of the first things in the morning, you do your little morning meeting, and then now you’re kind of ready to open up the day of learning. And right before you do that, you do the affirmations. Have you had any reaction from the student’s parents who are seeing this happen now at home?
Hannah Gellar:
I have. Here and there. I have had a parent reach out and say a funny story how the mom was having difficulty driving in traffic, and the kid turned around from the backseat and was like, mom, you can do hard things. And that really warmed my heart. But I have been told by one or two parents just like their child as a whole, like their personality and their confidence in themselves. I think that once you build that relationship and do those affirmations in the beginning of the year and then get to know your students, you can also tailor the affirmations when you’re working them one on one to help build that relationship. And that Confidence. A few students come to mind, like students that maybe aren’t strong in math yet. And that’s when you can say, like, I know this is hard for you, that’s okay. But you can do hard things. And I’ve had parents reach out like, oh my gosh, so and so’s confidence in math. Like, she just believes in herself because you believe in her.
Kim Strobel:
Herself.
Hannah Gellar:
Believe in her. And I always say, well, she believes in herself. Like, she knows she can do it. And I think that’s like the most heartwarming thing, hearing that from parents, that they see a confidence in their five or six year old that they can’t do it or they can’t do it. We’re all about growth, mindset. Right? They can’t do it now. And they’ll always say, like, they’ll even catch me if I’m like drawing a picture. And I’ll be like, I’m sorry, guys, I’m not an artist. They’re like, you’re not an artist yet, Ms. Geller. Not yet.
Kim Strobel:
I love that. Yeah, because that’s the thing. You know, I tell people that in high school, I struggled so much in my speech class that out of 27 students, I was at least in the bottom three of worst speakers. I shook so badly that I couldn’t read my little index cards with my notes on them. Like, there is nobody in that class that would say, oh, someday she’s going to stand on stages with 10 or 15,000 people in the class proud. But it ended up being a superpower that I didn’t know I had. And then once I tapped into it, I grew it and I grew it and I grew it and I grew it. And so, you know, Sean Achor says, according to his research, that most human beings are only utilizing about 10% of their potential and that there’s 90 there left to grab. But we don’t believe in ourselves enough to go grab it. And I think the same is true with our students. And that’s where teachers have a huge responsibility, because they are coming from families where belief systems of lack and inability have sometimes been downloaded in them. And so, and the other thing I wanted to say is the research is really strong, Hannah, that a teacher’s mindset and belief about her student’s ability to succeed profoundly affects whether or not that student can succeed in your classroom. So even if they come in and they are struggling academically, if you as the teacher believe in their ability to do hard things and you coach them and support them, they will. They will exceed the prior limited expectations. And I’m sure that you see some of that.
Hannah Gellar:
Absolutely. I mean, kids catch on. They feel your energy 100%.
Kim Strobel:
So, yeah, I have a question for you. You know, you’re 24 and you’re, you’re in the social media realm. You have a great following. You’re inspiring so many teachers. You are. Is it at Mrs. Geller?
Hannah Gellar:
Is that your handle at Ms. Geller? I’m Ms. Geller on tick tock and Ms. Geller teaches littles on Instagram.
Kim Strobel:
Okay, gotcha. And we’ll drop those in the show notes too. But you’re going to want to follow her because I will tell you, this profession is hard and it is expensive. Especially hard for young adults. I mean, I call a spade a spade. And I know that, you know, the paycheck and all of that is something that is impeding some people because they do worry, how will I make it on a teacher’s salary? But my question to you is there, there’s such a focus on burnout, right? Especially the social media narratives. And at times I have to talk about it too, because it’s a very real thing. But how do you navigate that as a young teacher when so many are leaving the profession?
Hannah Gellar:
That’s really good question. And that’s exactly why I started posting on social media to begin with, because I felt it too. And I like to make the blanket statement just like you did, like education is not rainbows and butterflies and burnout is very normal. And some days are really hard and you are dealing with things that are far beyond your control. But as teachers, we want to do everything. We’re dealing with the to do list, the maybe we’re underpaid, we’re overworked, all of that. And I never, ever want to take away from that because I feel it too. And I do believe that people who are posting saying that this is why they love teaching, like that is so valid. Schools are different, districts are different, support is different. Your life and who you need to support and the energy you have or need is different. And so I never want to invalidate teachers who feel that way. But what I like to advice I got from my first principal that I kind of have taken with me through. I’ve been this, I’m actually at my third school, so I’ve taken it with me is everybody’s opinion of teaching and their journey is their truth. But you get to make your own opinion and truth. And that starts from when you walk in on your first day of work. People may talk about the principle. But you get to decide your opinion. You get decide your opinion on your classroom, you get to decide your opinion on your curriculum. And it just, that goes on. Like, you get to write your teaching story. And if you feel like you have that teaching in your heart, like I knew I did when I was 6 years old and I was scared, like, I can only encourage people, like, if you have the heart to do it, do it, and you get to write that story. And it may not, it may not be a forever job for some people, but how do you know if you don’t try? Right. And there’s so many different circumstances that lead to a bad teaching experience and a good teaching experience. And I do think a lot of it is out of our control, like support, administration, all of that. But then I do think there’s a large portion of attitude, mindset that is in our control. So I try to. Not literally, but if you believe in what you’re doing in your four walls and you shut that door and you are happy where you are, that’s real, then you keep doing your thing. Don’t actually shut your door. Be open to relationships in your building. But I just feel like if we listen to everybody’s opinions, like, I do have a lot of messages that I don’t get to as often as I could. I just made a video about this that are like, I’m scared. Like, I’m in elementary education and everybody is saying this negative stuff. I feel like I’m wasting my time or money in a job that’s not going to fulfill me. And I always tell them, just, you get to make that decision. And that’s with anything in life, any job, any role, not just teaching. So that’s kind of what I’ve taken with me. And have I felt burnout, burnt out? Yeah. Have I cried driving home and been exhausted and maybe don’t want to go to work the next morning? Sometimes, yeah. But then we get there, we talk to the kids and we’re like, yeah, this is where I meant to be.
Kim Strobel:
I love that. And I think what you’re, you’re talking about is like, we all get to choose the narrative that we tell ourselves. Right. And so are we going to have a brain? That’s if our heart is in it so strongly and we’re trying to navigate the real difficulties of the profession, but is our brain going to pick up on all that’s wrong with the profession, or are we going to shift, shift to the things that are right that are fulfilling us? If indeed that is how we feel we’re being called. And so I love that. Great expert advice for people who might be feeling discouraged because you’re certainly not negating that for some it may not be the choice going forward. But I always say that teaching, in my opinion, is a very noble and sacred profession. It’s a very heart filled profession. And even with all of that, I understand that like sometimes financially, a person just can’t afford to do it. But for those that can and want to serve in this way, I mean, I know no other profession that gets to step into classrooms 180 days a year and have a positive influence on children’s lives.
Hannah Gellar:
Yeah, it’s rewarding every single day, every single hour.
Kim Strobel:
I love it. Oh, my gosh, Hannah, it has been a delight having you on this podcast. I love that you. I can just see it screaming through the screen that you have such a profound love for the, the profession that you’ve chosen and for the kids that are in your classroom on a daily basis. I will tell you, I can tell the number one thing those kids feel is they feel they are loved, don’t they?
Hannah Gellar:
I hope so. I hope so. Thank you so much for having me. And I’m going to circle back with you with your book and everything.
Kim Strobel:
Oh, yeah, do it. A copy. Did it come yet?
Hannah Gellar:
Yes, I do have it.
Kim Strobel:
Oh, good, good, good. Yeah. Well, you know what? Maybe it’s a summer read. Okay. But yeah, I want to know your thoughts because I wrote it in hopes that others would feel that they had the power and the agency to take control of their own happiness and well being. So thank you so much, Hannah.
Hannah Gellar:
Thank you.
