Inspiration and resources for balance before burnout
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The Whole Teacher Daily Planner & Workbook is here!
Monday, December 28th, 2009I am so thrilled to announce the arrival of The Whole Teacher Daily Planner & Workbook!
I have had a vision of a tool to help teachers build balance and into their daily lives and it has finally come true. It is a culmination of the best tools I have been using with teachers to help them beat teacher stress and puts it all into one neat package.
Check out the video I created below, and don’t hesitate to let me know what you think. Please feel free to share with all the teachers you know.
The planner itself is on sale at http://wholeteacher.com/store. Check it out!
Gallup Poll show teachers score higher in well-being
Sunday, December 27th, 2009I reported earlier in an article on examiner.com that the original results of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index found business owners ranked the highest in well-being until Gallup decided to ask a follow up question. According to Lopez and Agrawal in their December 23, 2009 report entitled, Teachers Score Higher Than Other Professionals in Well-Being, at www.gallup.com, teachers are usually included in the "professional worker" category, but a new category was created from other professionals when Gallup asked "are you currently a teacher in a public or private school (at any level, secondary, elementary, college, pre-school)?
The data collected between July 2008 and June 2009 found that teachers bumped out business owners by either scoring the highest, or tying for the top spot among all 12 job types in how they viewed their overall well-being.
The areas included how they evaluated their lives, whether they felt they had access to resources needed to live a healthy life, emotional health, and their likelihood to engage in healthy behaviors. As Lopez and Agrawal noted, the results shed light on a variety of benefits and drawbacks to the teaching profession.
Let’s look at the first area below:
1. Teachers view life with more optimism
This was determined by The Life Evaluation Index, which is based on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Scale, where people were asked to rank their present and future lives on a scale of 0 – 10. According to their scores, teachers were at the top of the list.
The Cantril Self-Anchoring Scale (Cantril, 1965) , developed by pioneering social researcher Dr. Hadley Cantril, consists of the following:
Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom to 10 at the top.
The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you.
On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time? (ladder-present)
On which step do you think you will stand about five years from now? (ladder-future)
The results of the Gallup poll showed teachers to have higher rates of optimism. I have been pondering this and have several thoughts on possibilities of where this comes from:
Teacher pay is usually based on a scale that increases with time of service and training The amount they earn is usually increasing and 5 years can make a lot of difference.
As teachers we have a sense of renewal as each year progresses, giving us a great sense of hope for the possibilities.
Personal and professional growth and development are integral parts of a teachers life. There are always new things to learn, new ways to do things, and chances for things to improve.
Our sense of purpose and desire to affect the lives of our students keeps us a bit "outside" of our selves.
What do you see as your reasons for optimism? How would you rate where you are now and in 5 years? Please comment below.
Free Technology Resources
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009Wanted to pass along a link to a great downloadable resource and it’s free. If your like me you are constantly looking for how to use technology to enhance your teaching. Most of our students are way ahead of us, but edutopia.org offers some great advice on how to use it more effectively.
Here’s what they have to say about it:
"Full of succinct and practical ways to prepare our students for 21st-century success, this guide will educate and inspire
you to embrace the new-media frontier and embark on a new learning adventure. From “Breaking the Digital Ice” to
“Working Better, Together” each tip provides succinct and practical ways to turn your classroom into an environment
for learning with new media. And each tip includes a wealth of Web sites and additional resources to help you deliver
the relevant and meaningful education all students deserve."
7 resolutions for healthier eating to manage teacher stress
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
A man may be a pessimistic determinist before lunch and an optimistic believer in the will's freedom after it. ~Aldous Huxley
How true! What you eat and when you eat it can have a tremendous effect on how you feel and how you are able to manage stress. As teachers our time that we can eat is often dictated by our schedule, but that should not stop you from putting some very simple steps into place to maintain energy and patience throughout the school day.
Here are some simple tips you can put into place in order to eat healthier and feel better offered by friend and Registered Dietitian, Nicole Cormier, RD, LDN:
1. Have less than 12 grams of added sugar per day.
2. Drink more than 64 oz. of water per day.
3. Eat more than 5 full cups of vegetables and fruits per day.
4. Eat a lean protein at most of your meals.
5. Move at least 30 minutes per day.
6. Keep a food journal.
7. Portion out your proteins at least once a week.
For more information about these "Resolutions" and some great workshops offered by Nicole please check out her site at www.deliciouslivingnutrition.com
Airforce Distinguished Educators’ Tour February 2009
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009Look to your students for the humor!
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009.jpg)
There are many ways our students help us to keep our passion. Their passion and perserveranceare often what keep us working on inspiring them to be excited about their learning. The following website is an example of how they often do this with humor.
The answers to the questions on essays, tests, and quizes may not always be correct, but they are quite often humorous!
Check out http://www.adprima.com/humor.htm for some histerical student responses.
I am sure many of you could add to the list.
What’s your funniest student story or response?
Go out with a sense of humor!
Friday, October 9th, 2009Above all else: go out with a sense of humor. It is needed armor. Joy in one’s heart and some laughter on one’s lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life. – Hugh Sidney
In October’s Whole Teacher Tidbots I suggested you spend more time with people who lift your spirits. One of the characteristics that is often associated with burnout is negative talk.
We all know someone who is challenging to be around because they are constantly complaining about how bad things are. Sometimes it feels as though they could suck the life out of the room. There is a very fine line between venting and just out right complaining.
Complaining can become a bad habit and seems to breed more negativity, as we seek proof to validate how bad we says thing are. Remember we spoke of 100% responsibility in the last blog? Complainers play a very real part in creating their own reality.
Next time you’re met with a difficult or frustrating situation, instead of complaining, try putting on your "suit of armor". Finding humor in a situation will quickly shift your energy, and often improve the outcome. It will also attract others who are looking for the positive.
Be the change you are looking for!
100 % Responsibilty
Monday, September 28th, 2009I am constantly utilizing Jack Canfield’s book The Success Principles. What an amazing resource for self-improvement. One of the first concepts shared is the most basic, yet the most challenging. He says, “In order to achieve major success in life – to achieve those things that are most important to you – you must assume 100% responsibility for everything.”
This means giving up all excuses and changing your response in the future. It means giving up blaming and giving up complaining. At first look this seemed simple, made sense, yet I had difficulty with the idea that 100% responsibility means that everything I have experienced in life, everything that has happened me, I either created or allowed.
This is very challenging when I looked at several situations in my life such as the loss of my parents. My initial reaction was, “Certainly, I did not create or allow those to happen.” But, after much more reading and contemplation I realize now that I do have a great deal of control and responsibility in how I react and respond to situation.
So, how does this relate to teachers? Take a look at your classroom and your life. What are you struggling with?
You are 100% responsible.
How can you change your actions to get a different result?
Is there a class you can take?
A book you can read?
How does how you are to others bring about their reactions to you?
What did you do or not do to achieve that result?
Try it on. Own it.
Organizing Paperwork – Binders work!
Saturday, August 22nd, 2009
Preparing for back to school means a fresh start with organizing the mountain of paperwork we know is inevitable. There are a variety of systems we can use to help tame the paperwork we are inundated with at school.
One system to explore is a binder system. Keep your three-hole punch close at hand and organize your paperwork into known categories. Binders are great for papers you will need to keep for a while, want on your finger tips, prefer to keep in chronological order, or keep by student or topic. A benefit of the binder system versus a regular file folder is this added protection, and consistent order. They also can bee easily stored and look better on your shelf or desk than a file overflowing with mix-matched papers.
So, what are some areas of paperwork that would be best organized with a binder system? Here are a few:
Student/Parent contact information and Log – Important phone numbers, etc together with contact log and pockets for notes. One cover sheet with one pocket per student in alphabetical order for easy access.
Classroom procedures or sample lessons for Substitutes
Homework binder – organize by subject if necessary, separate by date with post it or colored sheet. As homework is passed out to students a student helper could put an extra copy in this binder for future reference and absent students.
Subject notebooks – a safe place to keep resources for specific lessons or subjects to alleviate researching the topic the next year.
Office notices and protocol – Keep important papers from administration and meetings in chronological order for quick reference.
Professional Development – Paper work on completed courses with a section for your plan.
What else could go in a binder? Please comment below and share with others. Best of luck preparing for a successful new year!
The Simplest Balance Reserves
Monday, August 10th, 2009
The best six doctors anywhere
And no one can deny it
Are sunshine, water, rest, and air
Exercise and diet.
These six will gladly you attend
If only you are willing
Your mind they'll ease
Your will they'll mend
And charge you not a shilling.
I had an amazing time sharing The Whole Teacher with some truly special educators at the MTA Summer Conference at Williams College in Williamstown, MA. I am so grateful to each of those who chose to attend the first session of the final day of the conference ... especially considering the weather was perfect and it was, after all, the morning after "The Bash".
Thank you to each of you for sharing, brainstorming and offering such heartfelt support to your fellow teachers. I came across this poem this morning. It seems to embody the true meaning of the Balance Before Burnout Reserves and simplifies them beautifully!
Enjoy the final weeks of summer! This is when the "sunshine, water, rest and air; exercise and diet," are most easily found. Keep checking in The Whole Teacher for help finding them throughout your school year when it's a bit more of a challenge!
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