Looking back over three decades in education, I recognize a more complicated and politicized landscape for educators. We face challenges that have evolved, yet there are smart ways to navigate this and protect your wellness.
Consider the analogy of the oxygen mask with children: We have to put the mask on ourselves so that we have the strength to put it on our children. The same applies to educators. We have to be mentally ready to help our students or we are no help at all.
These numerous demands and challenges for teachers often lead to increased stress and the potential for burnout. Being aware of this risk, let’s consider key strategies for prioritizing teacher well-being in the upcoming year, for both us and children.
For this, I’ll draw on time-tested strategies and anecdotal experience from well-established resources to provide a reliable and accessible guide.
Why Teacher Wellbeing Is Indispensable
Teachers are on the front lines, spending more time with students than any other adults outside the home, including counselors and therapists. They often encounter children displaying wide-ranging symptoms of trauma, which can be emotionally draining. Most teachers were uncomfortable addressing students’ anxiety, grief, and trauma resulting from events such as Covid-19.
Equipping educators with the tools to manage their own wellbeing while creating a safe and supportive learning environment is critical, since their ability to care for students are directly linked. So how do we get there?
The Role of Professional Development in Teacher Wellness
Professional development (PD) is crucial for equipping teachers with the skills to support traumatized students, and it must also address their own wellness.
Effective PD should be:
- Problem-based and tailored to local needs, rather than broad and generalized.
- Adaptable and flexible, allowing for teacher input.
- Practical and timely, providing tools that educators can use immediately.
- Engaging and collaborative, fostering a sense of ownership among faculty
Formats such as Edcamps (teacher-driven conferences) and Pop-up PD (short, need-specific sessions) are effective models for this. These approaches help adjust teachers’ mindset from how students “should be” to an open “this is what we’re confronted with” perspective, enabling fluidity in learning support.
7 Practical Strategies for Teacher Self-Care
Let’s provide a roadmap of self-care and wellness protocols for educators, incorporating quick, easy-to-use tools and techniques that, when “stacked” together, can compound their positive effects].
Here are seven actionable strategies for teachers and school communities:
1. The Weekend Challenge: Encourage teachers to disconnect from digital devices for one day each weekend. This simple act can lead to a tremendous sense of liberation, fostering reconnection with family members and promoting greater contentment compared to screen-related activities. This models healthy boundaries and detachment from constant digital bombardment, and when teachers return, they share not missing time offline, in fact appreciating and valuing this time for individual and family fulfillment.
2. Managing Social Media and AI Misinformation: Social media can be a significant source of stress and misinformation for educators. Avoiding engaging directly with online falsehoods sounds simple enough but haven’t we all been hoodwinked at one time or another? (Like the beautiful view of an Italian vista I pointed out to my daughters that they laughed, “That’s AI-generated!”) Instead, empower trusted parents or community members to share simple, factual statements to counter misinformation, hallucinations, and bias on AI. This builds trust, calms anxieties, and shifts the narrative positively, while saving valuable time and energy.
3. Music Therapy: This may seem obvious but remember to integrate music. Music can profoundly impact one’s mindset and physiological state. Calming, slower-paced melodies, often referred to as “spa music” or classical, can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. A notable example is “Weightless,” a song designed by sound specialists that has been proven to reduce overall anxiety by nearly two-thirds after five undisturbed minutes of listening. Five minutes is something we can all get our arms around, on a quick break to reorient when needed. Teachers can use earbuds to access these calming sounds privately at a moment’s notice.
4. Seek The Satisfaction of Deep Work: Engaging in deep, focused, and uninterrupted work is the opposite of distracting, shallow tasks, and it generates a powerful sense of contentment and productivity. This type of work fosters creativity and can lead to lasting positive residual effects on well-being].
To achieve deep work, educators can:
- Schedule dedicated time for deep work, especially during morning hours when the brain’s prefrontal cortex is most active.
- Incorporate movement: Physical activity, such as a five-minute walk, increases blood flow to the brain, enhancing cognitive function and helping to “move the mind.’ Teachers can take short walks during breaks or encourage “walk and talk” discussions with colleagues.
5. Eliminate Comparison: Social media often fuels comparison, leading to feelings of inadequacy. As Theodore Roosevelt once famously stated, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” Limiting toxic social media use and consciously reframing perspective with guiding questions (“What have I learned today?” “What am I grateful for?”) can help overcome a “have-not” mentality, and foster appreciation for one’s own gifts and progress.
6. Breathing Exercises: In moments of acute stress, controlled breathing techniques such as the 4-7-8 method can quickly and effectively reset the body’s physiological response. This simple, self-managed practice slows heart rate, stabilizes blood pressure, and acts as a “natural tranquilizer for the nervous system.
7. Striving for a Flow State: A flow state is an optimal state of consciousness where one feels and performs at their best, characterized by deep focus and absorption in a task, where other aspects of life seem to fade away. It’s a state of complete attentional absorption, where a person becomes so involved in an activity that they lose self-consciousness and time perception seems to warp.
Using the strategies above, this state can be accessed by adopting a proactive, multi-pronged approach to teacher wellness. Schools can not only support their dedicated staff but also foster an environment in which both educators and students can truly flourish and achieve their full potential, moving beyond the impact of trauma. The benefits? Not just for the individuals. When a school is provided the conditions for peak wellness, everyone wins, and the entire community excels.