HOW TO FIGHT SCHOOL-RELATED STRESS

Although developing a positive outlook and turning problems into opportunities are effective tools in the battle against burnout, they are not enough to stop the cycle of self-defeat. To avoid the damage that burnout can cause, you also need to be proactive; you must prevent the buildup of the small stresses that eventually lead to distress and burnout. Consider some of the following strategies when you create a proactive plan to prevent toxic stress from consuming your life.

·        Place great value on your personal time. Working long hours every day is a sure path to burnout. You need time to just be yourself. School will always be there.

·        Allow yourself time to make effective transitions from one class to another. This is particularly difficult when you have many classes each day. One way to manage this is by having an opening routine that your students can do independently. This will free you to make the mental, emotional, and physical switch from one group of students to another.

·        Keep a flexible attitude. Get into the habit of looking for solutions instead of dwelling on your problems. If you are open to alternatives, you will be able to assess your options much more quickly.

·        Everyone benefits when you delegate responsibilities. Decide who you want to do a task, clearly explain how you want it accomplished, and then step back and allow the people you selected to get busy.

·        Plan ahead. When you know that you are approaching a tough time at school, find opportunities to prevent or solve problems and not just suffer through them.     

·        Take good care of yourself. Teachers tend to be nurturing people who focus on
the needs of others. But to succeed in taking care of others, you must take care of your own needs. Allow yourself time to rest, relax, have fun, exercise, eat well, socialize and enjoy life.

·        Slow down. Stop rushing from one responsibility to the next. Here are some ways to slow your life down: take time to eat lunch, allow yourself at least ten minutes to relax with colleagues at some point during your day, and use a journal for reflection.

·        Put some fun in your instruction. Plan activities that you and your students can look forward to. Few teachers experience burnout while they are having fun.

·        Pace the intensity of the work. Learn to plan your instruction to allow for some less arduous teaching periods. For example, you should not be “on” day after day. Instead, allow your students time for independent work, small group work, or even activities such as viewing films related to the subject under study. Being “on” all the time will quickly exhaust you.

·        Add structure to your life. Routines will prevent many stress-inducing problems.

·        Start to put together a network of supportive and positive people who can help you. Being connected to others is an important way to avoid the stress that can make every day miserable.

·        Take command of as much of your school life as you possibly can. Establish realistic long-term and short-term goals for yourself and then strive to achieve them.

·        Think before you act. If you plan your responses to unpleasant situations you will prevent many problems. Situations that you should think about before you act include dealing with incomplete homework assignments, angry parents, defiant students, cheating incidents, tardy students, and other frequent classroom disruptions.

Things I Wish I Had Known My First Year as a Teacher

Although I have published this list in various forms previously and in several places, I like to examine it at the start of a new school year as I make my resolutions for the upcoming term. Being an effective teacher does not happen by chance. Instead it takes planning, commitment, and a great deal of reflection. As you being your new school year, maybe this list can help you have the kind of terrific year that you would like for your students and for yourself. 

1. Don’t be afraid to experiment and have fun learning with your students. It’s okay to fail sometimes.
2. Realize that you will have to prove yourself all year long. To students, colleagues, parents, yourself…
3. Being regarded as trustworthy is an invaluable goal.
4. There will be plenty of opportunities to learn from mistakes.
5. If you don’t spend time reflecting on your teaching each day, it will be very hard for you to improve.
6. There will never be enough time to get all of the things you want to accomplish with your students done.
7. It’s important to think about student activities in terms of small blocks of time so they stay on task.
8. Leave your problems at school at the end of the day. Balance is key.
9. It’s important to show students how to help themselves. Learned helplessness does not have to be permanent.
10. Take good care of school resources and teach students to do the same.
11. Use your personal strong points and teach your students to do likewise.
12. Be selective. Don’t fight battles you can’t win. Ignore the small stuff.
13. Focus on what you can change and get then get busy doing it.
14. Use a multifaceted approach when presenting material.
15. Don’t just react to a problem. Solve it.
16. It takes time to get to know your students and even longer to gain their fragile trust.
17. Make it a point to build strong relationships with your colleagues. You need each other.
18. Parents do indeed expect you to live up to their ideal of what a teacher should be.
19. If you act like a professional, you will make it easier for others to defend you when you make a mistake.
20. Paperwork must be dealt with accurately, quickly, and efficiently.
21. Patience. Patience. Patience.
22. You are a role model, ready or not.
23. When you teach students to believe in themselves, you create lifelong learners.
24. Don’t allow any student to be invisible. Draw them in. Build confidence and engagement.
25. Establish routines for yourself and for your students. Everyone will benefit.
26. Students need structure. They also need fun and creativity.
27. Get them up and moving. Active students tend to misbehave less than those who are bored.
28. Be prepared for class. This means having a solid Plan B.
29. Spend more time telling your students what they do right than what they do wrong.
30. When you make a mistake, admit it and move on. Teach your students this, too.
31. Be unfailingly positive. After all, if you don’t believe in your students, who does?
32. Students are far more concerned with the idea of “fairness” than you can imagine.
33. Set goals for yourself and work with your students to set goals for them.
34. Stay away from those negative colleagues. They will poison your day, your week, your career.
35. Ask for help. We all need help at times. Speak up.
36. Actively work to improve your skills and knowledge about teaching.
37. Create your own PLN. Use social media to reach out.
38. Volunteer for extra jobs at school with caution.
39. Work hard to let your students know how special they are to you.
40. The worst students deserve the best in you.
41. No one comes to school determined to fail—despite evidence to the contrary.
42. You will make a difference in the lives of your students…it takes time, however.
43. Ask, “How can I help you with that?” and watch the magic happen.
44. Say, “I know you’re better than that” when a student misbehaves.
45. You will have some hard days as a teacher. Plan ahead how you will manage stress.
46. You can’t ever predict how a lesson will go or what your students will do.
47. Laughing with students is a great way to build a community in a hurry.
48. Connections with students are vital if you want to have happy days at school.
49. A well planned lesson is the best discipline plan you can have.
50. Never, ever forget that you may be the only person who shows a student that you care.

 

Twenty Helpful Attitudes for the Start of School

The start of school is more than just moving desks and trying to figure out how to cover the curriculum. Because we teachers create the climate in our classrooms, it is up to us to make sure that we adopt constructive attitudes to make the first few weeks of school run more smoothly for everyone. Here are twenty of the easiest and most productive positive attitudes than can help your school year get off to a great start.

1. Plan as much of your day as you can. Taking control of how you spend your time at school will ease your stress levels.
2. You do not have to be the world’s best teacher all the time. You just have to be a very good one. 
3. Spend your energy on large problems first and allot less of your energy for the small ones. Choose to deal with the problems that will give you the greatest benefit right away. 
4. You don’t have to know all the answers. 
5. Problems can move you forward when you choose to work to solve them. Don’t just react to problems; use them to your advantage.
6. Make room for more emotional energy. Ask for help when you have a problem. 
7. Believe in yourself. You know what you’re doing. When you have doubts, follow the advice in the previous bullet.
8. It’s not a problem, it’s a challenge. Sometimes it can be a very big challenge, though.
9. Don’t underestimate your students. They are capable of much more than you think they are.
10. Avoid negative people. Better yet, try not to be one of those negative people you are supposed to avoid.
11. Small strategic steps will often succeed where misguided leaps fail. Slow and steady...
12. Never forget why you became a teacher. Write it down and put it where you can see it every day.
13. It’s your classroom. Own it. What happens there is up to you.
14.  Being optimistic doesn’t mean that you don’t have problems. A positive attitude means that you are working on a solution.
15. Make sure you have something fun to look forward to. Better yet, make sure your students have something fun to look forward to.
16. You don’t teach a class. You teach complex, living, breathing people.
17. Cherish your students. Even the worst-behaved ones have redeeming qualities. 
18. Carpe Diem! When a teachable moment comes along, TEACH!
19. Small attitude changes often create bigger patterns of success. 
20. Be deliberate in your actions. Think before you speak. Think before you act. You will save yourself a great deal of trouble.