244. From Struggle to Strength: Featuring Amber Calderon

In this week’s Aspire to lead episode, Amber Calderon shares about the importance of recovering emotionally over the summer and establishing health work boundaries to protect our emotional wellbeing.  In this episode, we discuss: Creative professional development and communities Accelerating learning Are you emotionally safe at work? And about Classroom Champions! About Amber Calderon: Amber attended Baylor University with a degree in Psychology & Rhetoric and Argumentation. During that time I worked alongside the Dean of Psychology as his research assistant. She decided to get certified to be a teacher and taught elementary for four years! During that time, Amber managed the suicide hotline and was a Sexual Assault Crime Victims Advocate for 6 years.  While teaching, she quickly realized how lonely the profession was in addition to lack of resources. Amber started creating her own lesson plans and when searching Pinterest, discovered that there was a whole community of teachers just like her – wanting to make connections and build a digital community. These teachers were also making money from their lesson plans! She used my Psychology degree to leverage marketing tactics and made more than my teaching salary in my first year teaching! This caught the eye of the Founder of Nearpod…and thus her corporate journey began. Follow Amber Calderon: Website: https://peppyzestyteacherista.com/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmberrCalderon  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amberrcalderon/?hl=en  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amber-calderon-b83b3a92/  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkBsfniu0_Mx_YfbhatIF_Q  Supporting the Podcast! Have you ever thought about supporting the Aspire to Lead podcast? For just $5 a month, you can help me continue to create and produce valuable content for aspiring leaders in education. I understand that everyone has their own preferences and budgets, so if $5 a month isn't feasible for you, no worries! The podcast will always be available to listen to for free. However, if you do find value in the podcast and can afford to contribute, your support would mean the world to me. By becoming a patron, you're enabling me to continue doing what I love and providing you with quality content. Thank you for considering supporting the Aspire to Lead podcast on Patreon. Your contribution, no matter how small, is greatly appreciated https://aspiretoleadpodcast.captivate.fm/support    Need a Presenter for a conference or school PD? Contact Joshua Stamper  for presentations on Restorative Practices, Leadership Development, and Innovative campus systems. Watch my session on Trauma Informed, restorative and social emotional practices at www.teachsummit.com/stamper   Follow the Host, Joshua Stamper: Contact: https://joshstamper.com/contact/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/Joshua__Stamper Instagram: www.instagram.com/joshua__stamper Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-stamper Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AspirePodcast Subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aspire-the-leadership-development-podcast/id1384210762?mt=2   Aspire to Lead Won the FireBird Award! I’m happy to announce that my book, “Aspire to Lead”, won the 2022 Leadership Book Award from Speak Up Talk Radio!  It is a great honor to get this kind of recognition and I really appreciate all your support! The book is available for purchase on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1953852386/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1953852386&linkCode=as2&tag=aspirewebsite-20&linkId=0d9c336e3db6ab16cbb08421ef3e4175 Review the Podcast I want to give a huge shout out to those who have taken the time to provide a review on Apple, Spotify or any other podcast platform. It truly means the world to me that you would take the 30- 90 seconds to share how the podcast has positively impacted you or why other educators should check out the show.   This post contains affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links, The Aspire Podcast gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.