It’s the end of June, and even if you’re enjoying a break from the classroom, your brain might be a-buzz with all those projects, lessons, and materials you’re thinking about for the upcoming school year. In fact, maybe you’ve already taken a trip or two to a dollar store to stock up on supplies and decor, or filled your Amazon wish-list with books.
Stop!…at least long enough to read this article.
Teachers around the globe are facing the prospect of professional burnout in numbers greater than ever. In a recent poll conducted by the National Education Association (NEA), 90 percent of respondents reported teacher burnout as a serious problem.
Of course it’s beneficial to create a physically inviting classroom space and to map out lessons and projects in advance, but these priorities only scratch the surface in terms of setting yourself up for success. They are not enough to sustain us through the 180 days of decision fatigue that result from meeting the needs of the young humans in our charge.
It’s time to stop and make a plan for wellness to sustain you throughout the school year, and to help you navigate your way to next June with your personal well-being intact.
Sustained Self Care
While mental health days or trips to the spa may rejuvenate us in the short term, the daily demands placed on teachers call for a more sustained approach to self care. We know the advice given to air travelers, to put on our oxygen mask first before taking care of others, and it’s time we take that message to heart.
To take a sustained approach requires habit. In this case, we need to start the school year with habits that support our health and wellness. Below are some habits to consider establishing this fall. Think ahead today about which ones might serve you when the new school year begins.
Physical Health
Snacks – Create a space to hold healthy, easy-to-grab snacks. Keep a variety of snacks available at all times. Avoid storing candy, chips, or other unhealthy snacks in this space (On those occasions when I told myself that bag of fun-sized Reese’s were for the kids, I’m sure half of them ended up on my waistline!)
Hydration – Bring at least one full bottle of water to school each day. Take this bottle with you when you have recess or lunch duty. Balance coffee intake with plenty of caffeine-free options like herb teas. Keep a carton of water bottles in a cupboard or closet in case you forget your water bottle or don’t have time to refill yours.
Movement – Build in extra steps by parking far away from your classroom. Take steps or stairs when available. Take 60 seconds to stretch before going home for the day. Consider walking while collaborating with co-teachers or others, especially when brainstorming (One of the best habits I ever formed! It promotes physical health AND relieves stress!).
Sleep – Turn off notifications on the phone while sleeping. Avoid caffeine after noon and stick to herb teas/water/club soda. Unwind with a book or magazine rather than checking social media/emails before bed.
Breathing Break – Set your timer at various points in the day, like recess and lunch breaks, with a “breath-break” reminder. Whatever you’re doing when the timer goes off, pause to take some deep breaths. As you exhale, envision tension leaving your body and let your shoulders and face relax. This takes less than 30 seconds, but it has the power to reset our mood and improve our ability to focus.
Skip the Wine – It’s the stuff of memes that teachers can’t survive without wine or other alcoholic drinks. If you routinely decompress at the end of a day with a drink or two, consider whether this habit is really having the desired effect. Alcohol, even in moderate amounts, can have a serious negative impact on your quality of sleep. A moderate amount of alcohol for men is two drinks and for women is one drink. This level of consumption has been shown to reduce sleep quality by 24%.
Mental Health
Fun – When we don’t plan for fun, it’s easy for our workloads to consume us. Just as you’d schedule an IEP meeting or a lesson plan, schedule time for fun. Be specific in your plans. If we say to ourselves, “I’ll go out for coffee when I’m done marking these papers,” we all know that might not happen. Instead, make concrete plans for fun and relaxation by writing them down. Jot them wherever you record other important reminders and treat them as non-negotiable activities. When we don’t take care of ourselves, we are ill-equipped to give our energies to others (Remember that oxygen mask advice?).
Household Budget – Maintaining a healthy household budget seems to get more challenging by the day. There are so many priorities to juggle, and we owe it to ourselves and our families to use our income wisely. This is a tough one for many teachers, but do you really have the spare money to spend on classroom decor and supplies? Are there other ways to make your classroom inviting that don’t include spending your own cash? Whose responsibility is it, after all, to provide pencils and paper for the students? (Hint: It’s not yours!). Don’t put added stress on yourself and your family by spending money on unnecessary items. If you have the money and the desire to spend, go for it! Just be sure your spending is not a burden on you or others you are responsible for. Your students will survive, and thrive, even if your classroom isn’t picture perfect. Focus instead on keeping it tidy and showcasing student work and co-created anchor charts.
Celebrate Success – Make a habit of acknowledging at least one success at the end of each day. Be specific, such as, “Lenny used transition words in a paragraph” or “My guiding questions in Social Studies class led to deeper discussion.” This can be done in your mind or, better yet, consider writing your thoughts on a small piece of paper and putting these in a container or Celebration Jar. This is another one of those wellness strategies that takes less than one minute to do, so it’s easy to fit it into the day if you make it a habit. At the end of the semester, or anytime you need a lift, read the slips of paper and celebrate your classroom successes.
Classroom
Routines – The benefit of classroom routines is well-established and there are countless resources available online like this one to serve as a guide for the types of routines that would be helpful. They go a long way toward reducing stress for students and teachers alike. Take a look at your daily work flow to identify places in the day where routines can help your class run more smoothly, such as establishing standard procedures for taking restroom breaks, sharpening pencils, or even asking questions.
Less Marking – Marking papers is probably one of the last things you’d like to be doing at the end of the school day. While it’s not realistic to avoid this entirely, it is possible to drastically reduce the amount of paper grading that must be done. The first step is to develop a habit of doing frequent formative assessments. Observing students in action during group work and class discussions reveals lots of actionable data that we can jot down for future reference. Exit tickets, short written responses, and small quizzes (think 1-2 items) are great ways to check for understanding. We need not and should not rely so heavily on large tests, essays, and projects to tell us what we need to know about our students’ learning. Also, consider using verbal, recorded feedback to your students using tools like Flipgrid, Google Classroom, or Microsoft Teams Class Notebook.
Stagger Turn-in Dates – If you teach at the secondary level and you have multiple sections of the same class, think about staggering the due dates of major assessments so that you’re not stuck with grading for 100+ students all at once. When I first tried this strategy, I did get some minor protest from students (“Why does Period 3 get to turn theirs in later?”). The following year, I simply told students why I do this and to expect this as routine. I’ve had zero push-back since.
Guest Speakers & Field Trips – Summer is the perfect time to think about potential guest speakers to invite to your classroom. Rather than wait until the school year is underway, invite guest speakers now and propose a tentative date for them to visit your school. Let them know that you’ll contact them again once you get closer to the actual date. It’s a lot easier to squeeze in a short follow-up call or email during the school day than it is to make initial contact with someone. Initial contacts usually include more discussion and take more time than you can reasonably offer within the scope of a school day, so have these longer conversations now while you have a little more flexible time. The same is true for contacting individuals to organize field trips. If at all possible, make initial contacts in the summer to get the planning started.
Big Events – Every school has big events that are part of the published school calendar. Rather than just tack this calendar near your desk, use it to guide your planning. Pencil big school events into your plan book at the start of the year or post them in your online calendar. This will help you avoid conflicts and will reduce stress later. For example, if you know that there’s an awards assembly scheduled the week before winter break, don’t plan for student presentations that you know will consume the whole class period.
Report Cards – Just as you plan for other big events, plan for writing report card comments. I’ve found a couple of go-to strategies that really help. 1) Keep a working document on your computer or a physical notebook to record brief, informative report card comments, rather than waiting to do them all during report card week. 2) Don’t have any major projects or assessments due during the time you’re writing report cards. Instead, plan for review activities or project work sessions that are easy to plan and monitor so that you can free up time to write quality comments.
Emergency Sub Plans – The first time I was required to write emergency sub plans, I’ll admit I wasn’t too happy about it. Who wants to do a task that’s not essential in the week before classes start? Ugh! BUT, they sure were very handy when I was in a car accident one Sunday afternoon. I was out of school for some time, and the emergency plans I had put in place kept my students going until I could organize plans for a more lengthy absence. Here’s a sample plan for one class period that I used for a Sheltered English class. Feel free to edit and adapt it to your own needs. Notice that the plans aren’t very elaborate. That’s perfectly ok for this purpose. You would need to provide an appropriate nonfiction article for your students to read and download these awesome templates from Teachers Pay Teachers/Spark Creativity.
How are YOU planning for wellness?
Jotkoff, Eric. “NEA Survey: Massive Staff Shortages in Schools Leading to Educator Burnout; Alarming Number of Educators Indicating They Plan to Leave Profession.” NEA, 1 Feb. 2022.
Molly, Digital Author. “Best Teacher Memes.” Digital Mom Blog: Just One More Essay to Grade, 12 Apr. 2022, https://www.digitalmomblog.com/teacher-memes/.
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