 I'm Wendy Lo, and I'm your friend as we journey to take your health back. We are coming to you live from downtown Honolulu in the studios of Think Tech Hawaii. Think Tech Hawaii brings you topics from about 35 very colorful show hosts with very diverse backgrounds. Today, our topic of discussion will be on rules to live by. What I would like you to take away from today's discussion is abiding by these rules helps us feel better about ourselves, our lives and lowers our stress by practicing positive life rules. It makes life easier for all, especially today's youth. Today we are very honored to welcome Janet Janelle Sheets, who has a special career of being a special needs teacher. And boy, is she special. Please share a little bit about yourself, Janelle Sheets. Hi. Aloha. Hi. I have been teaching for about 25 years. Wow. I graduated from the University of Arizona, and I have a master's in education and curriculum. And I've taught, the majority of my teaching has been in the first to third grades, but I've also taught upper grades, and this next year I'll be teaching. Wow. And so, Janelle, where do you reside? I live in northern Nevada, which is about, I live approximately 30 minutes south of Lake Tahoe and about 45 minutes south of Reno. Wow. And your husband and you are visiting here in Hawaii, and we're so honored to have you here on our show. Yes. And we're thrilled to be here. And you have children yourself? Yes. Yes. You have us. I have a daughter, Bailey, who is 26, and a son, Nolan, who is 24. Wow. How exciting. Yes. Very exciting. And I want to be introduced to you by a dear friend, Margaret, and George. And when I met you and you came to my home, I was like, wow, what a neat lady. I wanted to share your heart with everyone here and your passion and your desire to make life better for our special needs population. And I know that you're very successful at doing this. Thank you. Yes. And I also know, and I know you're very humble and you're very shy about it, but tell us a little bit, I know you are honored as being a top teacher of your community, of your district. So tell us a little bit about these honors. I was voted the teacher of the year for my school, and then I was blessed enough to also be voted the teacher of my district several years ago. Wow. And what district is this? I work for the Douglas County School District in Nevada. I currently work for the Churchill Downey School District, but I worked for the Douglas County School District for over 20 years. Wow. And I know we're going to talk a lot about your system and your style of teaching. And I also wanted to just say, personally, I know you were sharing with me that you now teach in a district, not where you reside, that you actually rent and live in an area closer to your school so you could be closer to your students. Tell us about that. What a commitment that is. My husband and I have a home in Douglas County, and I currently have a job that's about 90 minutes away from there. And it is definitely doable, the commute, but we have found it easier for me to rent a place. Actually, the place that I'll be living is walkable to where I'll be teaching. And I live there, rent there during the week, and then I travel home on the weekends to be with my husband. And it makes it easier to have easier access to the school and to the kids and just my job. Well, that kind of segues into our start of our talk, because it's about stress. And what you're trying to do is just trying to keep that stress level down for yourself as you focus on your energy so that you can work more productively with your students. I know that. All right. So I want to know from you, by looking at this next slide, what are some stressors that everyone feels at this very young age that you work with? I find that many, many kids, young people in particular, have a great deal of stress, and I think it's underestimated what kids have. And we all have stress, but I think that kids in particular have more stress than we give them credit for. They certainly have stress when it comes to school and schoolwork and friendships, but I think they also have stressors when it comes to simple things like lunch and sometimes getting to school and stressors from home that we just don't fathom or even think about. If they can get those stressors and get some coping skills taught to them at school and try to help them process those, then it carries off into their school life, their home life, and I think things just get better for them from that point on. So, you know, you're a bit younger than I am, but when we were growing up, did we, when we were of that, our generation, did we have that kind of stress upon ourselves as well? I think we had stress, but I don't think we had it to the degree they do now. Yeah, I think maybe do you think we're putting too much burden on our kids or are they taking too much burden upon themselves as well? I think it's a little bit of both. I think there's, I think technology really adds to stress immensely. Right? Social media. Yes. Right? Being able to keep up. Absolutely. Because you're seeing everybody else doing everything else and you want to just keep up. I think it's so funny. No one puts on social media their bad day. No one puts on social media the poor grade they got. No one, you know, no mom ever puts a C on a spelling test on the refrigerator, you know. So I think social media is definitely a significant cause of stress for parents and kids. It's just a small part. I do think it's a much bigger time, but stressful now than it was when we were younger. Wow. So on the next slide, we talk about your three rules. So how did you come to form these three rules for your classroom? I, when I started teaching, there were always many rules that were, you know, keep your hands to yourself. Don't talk to others. Make sure you, and I quite frankly, I had a hard time bringing them all. And I thought if I'm an adult and I'm struggling, they need to just be short, quick, easy. I came with do the right thing, do your best, and don't stress. And it was funny when I Googled these rules. The first thing that came up were actually these rules from Lou Holtz. And his ends with always show people you care. And this reminded me is what I kind of call a God wink. My family, my husband, graduated from the University of Notre Dame. We are die hard Notre Dame fans. And so the fact that this was the first thing that comes up when you look at it was just kind of an affirmation to me and my thoughts and feelings. But I feel like if we're always doing what we know is right, and I tell my kids, you know deep down what is right. I feel like I don't need to patronize even a six-year-old by saying keep your hands to yourself. You know it's right. Keep your hands to yourself. Don't talk when the teacher's talking. You know it's right to not be talking when someone else is talking. Don't run in the hall. You know that it's right. You know if you search your heart and your mind, you know deep down what is right. And do your best. Now that means doing your best all the time. In the library, in the lunch room, always do the best that you can. If you're drawing a picture, draw it the best you possibly can. If you're cleaning up your mess after lunch, clean it up the best that you possibly can. And then the last one, don't stress. It's amazing little things like we can be writing something as a group on the board and they might be running behind. You know I'm on number four and they're on number two. And they can start crying and getting frustrated. And I can say, am I going to erase it? You know, am I going to mark you down? No. Should you be stressing? No. And I find that if you follow these three rules, everything works out. You're okay as an adult. And they really seem to adopt and embrace the philosophy and carry each other. So if someone is starting to get stressed, another child will say, don't forget about rule number three. Don't get stressed. And they just sort of, they embrace each other with it. They really do. Yeah, they really do. That's good. And you have that posted in your room? Absolutely. And it gets to a point where I can just say, what's rule number two? What's rule number one? You know, it's just embedded in everything they do. That's great training without even training. Well, and I feel like it's, and I expect them to hold me accountable as well. Very good. So they also, you know, you look like you're getting stressed. Are you following rule number three? Yeah. That's excellent. Everyone needs to keep each other accountable. Even the teacher. I feel like I need to follow those exact same rules. Right. You know, these days, how many students do you have in your classroom? I usually have approximately 23, 24, 25. And how long is the class day? Well, if I have a primary group, then I have them from about nine to three. This next year will be very different. I really felt led that I was supposed to try something new. And so I was offered to teach a sixth grade, which will actually be six separate groups of 25 kids for approximately 55 minutes. So I will be interacting with six separate groups of kids. Wow. That is a big challenge. You're going to have to learn a whole lot of names and personalities. Yes. Wow. That's a big challenge for yourself. Yes. And are these just, are they special needs, population or students, or are they all aspects of students? They're all, they're all aspects, but there's definitely some that will be special. Wow. You're going to get your hands full. That's good for you. Take on the challenge, girls. You can do it. That's why you got that award. Thank you. Right? Because you're able to implement. You know what you need to do? You have your three rules. You follow them, you live by them, and everything should fall into place. Right. Especially because I can feel that you have the passion and the heart. And that's the whole idea. You know, your job is such a great job. You have the students, well, now for 55 minutes, but otherwise it would be a six hour day. You have them longer than their parents have them. Yes. Right? And you have to make an impact on them in times, however many in the class, times six, the class loads. So no wonder you're here on vacation to have a good rest. And you know when you go back, you're fired up and you're going to just get them all up to that same level as why you won this award. Is that correct? That's what I'm hoping. Wow. Okay. So stress is real. Okay. So how did you know that stress was really real for your kids? I saw it just, excuse me, affecting them in so many ways. It was very heartbreaking to see them at times. And I think sometimes it does not get acknowledged like it should. Things like them, I think sometimes we laugh off things like she won't be my friend. I'm not invited to her birthday. It's just being devastated by very, very things that we see probably as small. And they're not small. Those when you are six, seven, eight, nine, and those are in their life, those things are monumental and they need to be met as such and they need to be acknowledged as such. Because in their life and in their mind, their reasoning, those are huge things and they need to be respected and understood as such. The other thing is if you look, so many kids manifest stress with things as headaches and insomnia and stomach aches and if you just watch them, you can find just very easy things that are triggers of stress that I just think we don't pay attention to. I think we don't really acknowledge and if we don't do that starting early, they grow up without any keys or any triggers that let themselves know their stress so that they can start dealing with it in an early age and then they grow up not dealing with it in a healthy way. In your six-hour day, you're not just a teacher teaching, you're an observer. And you have to really analyze and assess who needs what at what time by their body language. So what are the types of stresses do you encounter? I mean, acceptance, stress of being accepted, being loved, right? And then all the other, what other types of stress do you know? Academic stress. I try to really let, I try to make it a very accepting, I try to make the class, we have a thing where we say what's said in the sheets room stays in the sheets room. We have a circle. I always make sure that we sit in a circle because everyone is equal. I don't like it when you just sit in a group because the dynamics, there's always someone in the front, it's in the back, it's always a circle. And I try to make it so that we all can find, that we all have an area where we can, we all find an area, I try not to ever let them use the words easy or hard. This was easy for me, this was hard for me because every single person has something else that's hard for them and something, you know, so if someone goes, that was very easy for me. You know, that could make someone else feel very negative or very upset. That might be easy for you, but it's not for them. And I try to say that it goes throughout life. You know, math might be easy for you, but running might be very difficult. You might be very good at reading, but you might really struggle when it comes to jumping rope. You know, it's not, I try to make it a very balanced, it's not all about academics and that can be very special. That's amazing. I mean, you know, like your eyes are full and focused on so many things. I know, you all, do you have a teacher's assistant? Depending on the class. Okay, because I think that's what you need because you're doing the front of the room, but we also need eyes on the side in the back of room to help to assess. But you know what, we're going to take a break right now. And when we come back, we're going to talk about the eyes of the room and all the different aspects of what you're doing and how you bring it all in in the classroom. So I'm so proud and excited to hear more from you. Thank you so much. We'll be taking a 60 second break right now. Aloha. Aloha, y'all. My name is Mitch Ewan. I'm from the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute. And I'm the host of Hawaii, the state of clean energy. We're on every Wednesday at four o'clock. And we hope that we have interesting guests who talk to us about various energy things that are happening in Hawaii all the way from PV to windmills to hydrogen, close to my heart, electric buses and electric vehicles. So please dial in every Wednesday at four o'clock on Hawaii, the state of clean energy. Aloha. Hi, guys. I'm your host, Lillian Cumick from Lillian's Vegan World. I come to you live every second Friday from three p.m. And this is the show where I talk about the plant-based lifestyle and veganism. So we go through recipes, some upcoming events, information about health regarding your health and just some ideas on how you can have a better lifestyle, eat healthier and have fun at the same time. So do join me. I look forward to seeing you and aloha. Aloha and welcome back. Today we have Janelle Sheetz with us, a special needs teacher, a special educator visiting from Reno, from Nevada, Fallon, Nevada and sharing with us her heart and her desire to just make a great impact on all her students, whether it's one child or 36 or 100 students that she's going to be taking on in a day. We're just really amazed to get into her heart. And I was sharing with her that what she has to do as a teacher is such a load. I didn't see how one teacher can manage 24 or even 10 students at their best because you need eyes all around the room to make sure that every need is met. And these children have so many different needs. They have so many different stresses. And things that we as adults just think, that's just life. But you know what? They're just starting life. We need help so that we can guide them to the right life that we want them to have. So our next slide comes up and there's this good-looking young man. Okay. And so tell me about this well-adjusted good-looking young man that we're going to be being viewed right now. Tell me about him. This is my son Nolan. In this picture he is 24 and he is well-adjusted and doing very well. He's currently working at a restaurant as a server and going to school full-time. And will hopefully be graduating at the end of the year. And from this picture he's exactly what you said, just well-adjusted and happy and he's a great kid. He's doing very well. This was taken probably maybe a month ago. And it just shows you don't like kids and adults. We don't always realize what someone's been through, what they have struggled with, whether it's sometimes kids, the whole, I've had kids that will come into class from recess and all of a sudden they can't read, they can't add. And I'm like, what happened to you? You said she's not my friend. And they cannot get on until they get this process. My son, you see him in this picture and he's done very well. He has had his own battles and turmoil that he's had to go through. He's 24 in that picture and approximately seven years ago, he went out snowboarding. I remember the day perfectly. He went out with some friends, walked out the door at about 10 in the morning. And I got a call and he was in a snowboarding accident. He was just skiing, or I say skiing and he's always very quick to correct me. He was snowboarding. Yes, if you have someone who's snowboarding, there's correction there. He's snowboarding down the hill and he said someone was coming from the side and he knew that they were going to crash. So he stopped himself and kind of tucked and rolled exactly. And he broke his clavicle and it broke inward and it punctured his brachiosophallic artery and it punctured that and to make a long story short, he has undergone approximately four to six surgeries between open heart and carotid bypass and there's a picture of that that will show. Wow, so now the photo we just saw, this is seven years after and this is him. How long after that surgery? This is about seven days after his last surgery. This shows his actual surgery. This shows he also had some carotid on the neck that it shows. You can also, actually I should probably explain the tattoo that says December 10th, 2011. That was the day of his actual first surgery. I'm sorry, his accident, not his surgery. And when they did it, his open heart surgery, they said, we're not sure if this is going to work. We may have to go back in. He decided I'm going to put a zipper at the end because they may have to go back in. And the doctor said when he went back in, I'm sorry, I forgot you had a zipper, I didn't line it up. So it's a little off. And then he also has a very, very long 40 staples on his inner thigh where they took a vein from his leg. And you just don't, again, if you were to see that picture of him where the two of us were together now, you just don't have. He's happy. And if you were to talk to him, actually, he's probably one of the most positive people you'll ever meet. I've said many times to my husband, is he ever negative? Is he ever, say, just an amazing? And I think, again, it's just an example of you don't ever know what someone's been through. And those three rules, again, are just very helpful in trying to stay. If you're doing your best, if you're doing the best you can, if you're doing the right thing and you try not to stress, it just really helps you to stay strong, to stay faithful, to stay relaxed, because if you really are doing the best you can and doing what you believe is right, you can sleep at night. You don't have a lot to stress about. Wow. Those are very positive rules to live by. I mean, you did that in the classroom, you did it at home, and your son is a protege of that. I mean, so powerful because you can see that he has a zest for life. He does. He does, and the forgiving heart and the positiveness comes from all the rules that you set forth. So that is what you're also achieving in your classroom. You achieved it at home as well. I mean, just a zipper pull in itself, that's spot on, mom. Yeah. Right? And that shows you that that's how confident he is about himself. And the fact that he knows mom is coming and showing the world his scar, and that's half the battle for recovery and just to be a role model of, you know what, all things are possible. And with all the faith that he has and the family had within him, that he could pull through this, and that he's going to not only pull through, but he's going to shine and thrive for others and be the role model that you created him to be. So I was so amazed to see that. I do have a scar, and up to the time it was like eight and nine and 10, my mom would say, yeah, this is my daughter. This is the girl with the open heart surgery. Lift up your shirt, girl. Lift up my shirt. You know? And yeah, every time, yeah, this is her. This is her open heart surgery girl. And then I was like 13 and 14, and body's changing. Go, mom, no, no. Those days are done. No more. No more. You, no, no. So that he can continue to show his scar and be proud of it. You go, no, and I'm so proud of you. Right? So just now you have one more. You have a daughter. Yes. Okay. So tell us the story behind this picture that's coming up. I have a beautiful daughter. Yes. Her name is Bailey. And that is Bailey with her wonderful husband, Bradlin. They are very happily married. They live in El Paso, Texas. And that's just a great picture of them. And I'm just as proud of Bailey. She, too, has had some issues that she has overcome. And I don't have a picture to show like I did in Nolan. And part of the reason I don't is Bailey went through a time period where she would not let us take some photos of her. Bailey suffers from bipolar disorder. And she, we adopted her from birth and knew at birth that there was a substantial chance she could have some challenges, but really felt like, you know, God will give us what we get. And, you know, we're certainly not guaranteed to be providing her, not providing, but having any perfect, you know, children. But you're just doing your best. Yes. And she has just been a gift from the day that we have had her. We were actually at her birth. And she has overcome incredible obstacles and has just been strong every day of her life. And she now actually has recently been diagnosed with autism. I'm not, sorry, not autism. Epilepsy. Epilepsy. Forgive me. And she has just been a fighter from the get-go. Same with Nolan. She, like him, has just been very, these are the cards that I'm dealt. And I will do what I need to do to better myself and to be healthy and to make wise choices. And again, you know, she does the best that she can. She does what she, you know, feels is right and truly does not get real stressed. And she's just a powerhouse. You gave her the three rules. Full of love. She lives by them as well. So I'm sure that's what's getting her through every day of her life with her little, her challenges. Yes. And she too is just an incredible inspiration to my husband and I. And she's living by the rules. Yes. She's wonderful. So now the next slide talks to us about think bigger. Think bigger. All right. So how can we think bigger? You mentioned stories about a man on a train and a waitress. Two. Tell us about those stories when I was talking to you. Two things that just have helped me try to think bigger is when you see someone and you see a situation to try to not just judge from the small thing you see. One thing is there's two stories that I have heard and read about that I try to keep in mind. One is if there's a man, there was a man on a train and he had kids and they were running around and just being kind of obnoxious and noisy and not behaving and the man is just kind of quiet and not really saying much. And your first response is those kids are really misbehaving. They're awful. And when it comes to turnout, the wife had recently passed away. And so he's on the train and he's suffering his own grief that there's a wife that's not around anymore. There's a mother that's not around anymore and your perspective completely changed when you see these three children. And then the other one is there's a waitress and she's very rude and very quick and then someone wants to complain and then when you find out she has a husband, I'm sorry, a son in the hospital and she's trying to earn money to pay for that then you don't mind. So see, I mean all it goes to show is the upbringing and how we deal with adversities and everyday lives. But again, going back to your three rules, asking those three questions and knowing the three rules will get you through a lot of these different things. So that's why you are the teacher of the year because you are able to set the rules in your students that you are able to reach and that they will have a solid foundation that they can get through these adversities in life that we all will face one day. Hopefully not but sometimes they just come at us. So I know we run out of time right now, Janelle and there's so much to talk to us about and share but I just want to say mahalo to you for being here and just sharing with us the three rules and that in itself will help a lot of people out there so that they know how to get through their days. So mahalo to you, Janelle and thank you for being here and enjoy Hawaii. Thank you very much.