Allyson is a passionate educator who shares her experience to finding The Path to Serendipity in hopes that others will too. Allyson's experiences and stories uplift and encourage the audience to find optimism and happiness in all aspects of teaching by embracing challenges, building positive relationships with students, and leading through reflective learning. Allyson will leave the audience with a renewed spirit and outlook on the fabulous career of being an educator.
Allyson Apsey
Create school environments where staff and students thrive. Best-selling author of Leading the Whole Teacher.
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Allyson Apsey
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Current: TEDx: Serendipity is Everywhere
Time 13:52
Allyson Apsey
Featured Keynote Programs
Finding Your Own Path to Serendipity
The origin of the word serendipity comes from a Persian tale, “The Three Princes of Serendip.” In the story, three princes tried to impress their father by traveling as everyday people rather than as nobles. During their travels, the princes saw the hardships people went through as well as the good in the world. They learned a life without hardships was a life devoid of valuable lessons.
Serendipity is a way of living, but not one that came naturally to me. When I was younger and trying to figure out how life worked, I thought life just happened to us. We woke up each morning, stuff happened, we dealt with it, and then we went to bed to repeat the same process the next day.
This presentation is about embracing all experiences, particularly our challenges, and allowing them to make us better. It is about stumbling upon the fortunes of life and looking at every experience as a treasure—those moments that bring us more pain than we thought possible, more joy than we feel we deserve, and everything in between.
Outcomes:
Five basic needs drive all behavior.
All behavior is purposeful, and all behavior is information.
We get to decide who we want to be and how we react to what life throws at us.
The only person who controls you is you.
We can’t always get what we want, and there are three things we can do when we don’t.
Respect means meeting our own needs without interfering with someone else trying to meet their needs.
Strong, positive relationships are essential to our well-being, and they take work!
This presentation is a journey of reflection and self-discovery. The interactive format features innovative technology tools. The participants will feel big, ask themselves important questions, laugh, maybe cry, and be compelled to improve for tomorrow.
Supporting Students, Staff and Families Affected by Trauma
Many of our students, staff and families have been affected by trauma, which makes becoming a trauma-informed educator an important part of setting our students up for success. In addition, the CDC discovered that exposure to trauma increases the likelihood of 7 out of 10 of the leading causes of death in the United States. As educators, not only do we have a responsibility to support students affected by trauma, we must make sure that our school environments are not trauma-inducing for any of our students. Our staff may come with their own background of trauma, and are at risk for trauma-fatigue as they give everything they have to their student. The good news? The supports that are required for students affected by trauma are good for all students.
Outcomes:
Identify indicators of trauma
Understand the crisis cycle and how to support students through it
Learn strategies to support students who have been affected by trauma
Understand how the strategies are good for all students
Recognize trauma-fatigue in staff, and learn strategies to counter the impact of student trauma
Value taking care of yourself so you can serve others
This presentation is a journey of reflection and self-discovery. The interactive format features innovative technology tools. The participants will feel big, ask themselves important questions, laugh, maybe cry, and be compelled to improve for tomorrow.
Helping Others Discover the Best in Themselves
(Even if Life has Shown Them It’s Worst)
This engaging and empowering presentations or workshop will leave educators inspired to live their very best lives and to help each other do the same. Allyson Apsey wil take participants through the eight steps to helping others discover the best in themselves from her book Through the Lens of Serendipity.
Outcomes:
Know that there is always more to someone’s story than what meets the eye.
Review (or learn about) Glasser’s five basic needs and expand on that learning by understanding how to change how we are thinking and feeling.
Understand that looking for the good in all people benefits more than just the people around you—it benefits you as well.
Begin to understand how our brains work and why someone might choose fight, flight, or freeze over pausing and problem-solving.
Understand what trauma is and that the same compassion and supports that those who have been affected by trauma need benefit ALL people.
Know that others’ past experiences change their view on the world, their perceptions of others, and motivate their own self-preserving behaviors. And our own past experiences change our view of the world.
Understand that we impact each other with our behavior, and this impact can be negative or positive.
Passionately believe that in order to support everyone, we have to HANDLE each other with care.
Hope is everything
Assure safety
No shoulda’ needed
Do things differently
Listen to understand
Establish trust
This presentation is a journey of reflection and self-discovery. The interactive format features innovative technology tools. The participants will feel big, ask themselves important questions, laugh, maybe cry, and be compelled to improve for tomorrow.
Embracing Challenges
The true test of our character comes not from surviving through the hard times, but thriving because of the hard times. Challenges give us an opportunity to test the strength of our spirit. Embedded in every experience we face is a beautiful opportunity to inch closer toward the person we want to become. Allyson will guide participants on a journey to uncover the lessons the boulders in our path present, to allow ourselves to experience the great joys bestowed upon us, and to live in the moment because, as Gretchen Rubin says, “The days are long, but the years are short.”
Outcomes:
Understanding what is within our control, and what is not.
Reflecting on challenges we have faced and the beautiful lessons embedded in them.
Learn strategies to live in the moment so you can present your whole self to the people right in front of you.
Identify the boulders in our path and take action to crush them, avoid them, or allow the person who created the boulder to keep it for themselves.
This presentation is a journey of reflection and self-discovery. The interactive format features innovative technology tools. The participants will feel big, ask themselves important questions, laugh, maybe cry, and be compelled to improve for tomorrow.