Archive for the ‘Stress Reduction’ Category
Teachermum is a mum, a wife and a special education teacher. She also believes in the “Crumple Effect” and loves sharing her ideas, experiences, philosophies and successful strategies on her blog. Read more of her posts at www.teachermum.com.
Sad. That is what I am feeling right now. I can give you a good number of reasons why I am sad, but that is not the intention of my blog post. I can also add a whole bunch of other emotions such as frustration, disappointment, anger and exhaustion into sad, but for now, I will umbrella them all under sad. I hope, as I start out writing this, that I can ultimately express my message clearly and use my sadness as a tool …
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In rereading the last about teacher burnout, I was struck by a handful of things that my reader mentioned in the email. I thought it was powerful enough that it was worth digging into deeper, and yet I didn’t want to dilute the conversation that might come as a result of the emotional impact of the reader’s email.
With that being said, here are 20 insights from a 17-year veteran teacher about things that teachers ought to be doing.
- Take care of your body
- Avoid whiners
- Get more sleep
- Accept imperfection from yourself
- Don’t expect to make everyone happy
- Don’t abuse your sick days, but do use them
- Relax more
- Have trusted friends who can smack you upside the head
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When all else fails…
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I have decided to compile all of the articles from my series 25 Tips For Less Stress into one handy ebook. The Instant De-Stress Handbook is completely free to download. To get your copy, simply download it here.
Go ahead, tell your friends. Email the ebook to them. Recommend they come check out my blog. You know you want to!…
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This past Tuesday, I took a day off of school. This is not normal for me, and I even had to fight my urge to go up to school and make sure things were running smoothly. I even drove up to the school and chose not to get out of the car.
Why? Because I had a chance where I knew I could relax for a day and things wouldn’t fall apart. I suppose it’s sort of a building process for me of letting go of my band.
I don’t like to miss school. I remember my parents encouraging me when I was in high school to miss a day when I didn’t fell well. I have been debating missing …
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We come now to the final chapter of our 25 Tips For Less Stress. This is perhaps my favorite one of all. Without this decision, you cannot have a stress-free life. The key is to choose to have fun at work.
No matter what industry you work in, if you love your job, you will be more productive. In education, our products are educated people. The more we love teaching, the more of our children will be successful. That love will translate into their development of greater passion for learning. It’s an upward spiral.
Conversely, when we hate our job — or when we just show up to collect the paycheck — it also shows. The students laboriously come to …
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How much time is wasted in classrooms around the world each day? How much time is wasted in businesses each day because employees are not diligently using their time? As I’ve written before, I view squandered time at work as being equivalent to stealing from the employer.
One of the best ways to avoid having to take work home is to get all of your work done while you are at work. The key to making this happen is to work hard at work. Here is a 10-step method to work hard at work.
- Have a list of work to do before the day begins (include due dates and times)
- Break down large tasks into smaller chunks
- Prioritize the list
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I rarely take work home any more. I used to do it all the time. Then I noticed something. I rarely got any work done at home, and I felt guilty about not getting it done at home. I also realized that when I didn’t take work home, I didn’t fall too far behind when I got back to school. I am able to find ways to catch up, or find corners to cut.
What if the only work we had to grade were quizzes and exams? How would that transform our classrooms and our lives? What if we set up our grading scale something like this:
Daily Work – 10%
Quizzes – 40%
Tests – 50%
I understand that …
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Each morning when I come into the band hall, there are always a handful of students who come to drop off their instruments before school. Often they will come in and stand around talking. Because our custodian runs the vacuum each day and doesn’t fix the chairs after he finishes, the entire classroom has to be set up each day. I would prefer that they either practice their instruments or leave, but my coworker wants his students to come in and socialize or whatever. Since he gets to school later than I do, I have come up with a plan that works. I tell them to find something productive to do. That could be setting up chairs and stands, …
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I love reading. I don’t do it nearly enough, but I still do love it so. I find that many people don’t read a single book after they graduate from high school.
As teachers, we are also supposed to be lifelong learners. We should be desperate to learn about more and more stuff.
I find that as I read more books, especially nonfiction books, I learn more and am able to come to the place of deeper peace with myself. As I learn more about the world, I also learn more about myself. Though personal development books challenge my ideas about the world, they also challenge me to grow and become a better person.
I generally don’t read much education …
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I touched on this topic before in Deepen Your Relationships With Friends, but I want to get even more involved here. I want to look at specific ways that you can collaborate with coworkers.
More experienced teachers
These people are the lifeblood of education. We’ve all had at least a small handful of teachers who we had in school whom everyone KNEW were older than the school building, but was afraid to say it. We all know the type. But they truly love teaching. They can imagine nothing else they would do with their lives!
These are the people you need to hook up with. Not only can they be unvaluable sources of free information, but they also generally thrive …
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Wow. I love my students. I am amazed that I haven’t written more on my blog about this fact. As I search through my blog, I have come to the realization that I probably come across as some heartless disciplinarian who expects nothing more from his students than that they be quiet all the time.
This is about as far from the truth as you can get. In fact, I love my students very much. I came to the determination three years ago that classroom management was a key element of demonstrating my love to them. You see, when we allow them to waste their education, we are showing unconcern for them rather than courtesy. One of my key scriptures …
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A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17
Some of the greatest stress relief I have had since moving away from my family has been with friends. Either other teachers as well as church friends or even other friends you have met through other social activities. Maybe hooking up with college or old high school buddies. Whatever it is, hanging with friends is a great stress reliever.
Just sitting and talking about things unrelated to school can be great. Sitting and talking about things related to school can also be great. I learn a lot from my teacher friends. Some of my greatest learning experiences are when I am trying to help them …
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