This is for teachers! What’s one trick you have that helps you get through the day?

If you’re comfortable with about five seconds of awkward silence, it’s basically a superpower.

Don’t feel compelled to fill that silence. If you ask question, wait, and count in your head. That awkwardness you feel? Everyone feels it, and sooner or later it will leverage someone in to speaking up.

Disclaimer: I teach grad students not little kids, so that behavior may not carry over.