I don’t know about you, but I’m a little tired of my little bubble, sitting here trying to figure it all out myself. As teachers, in the past weeks, we have spent time figuring out how to set up our schedules, taking care of our families, setting our schedules while creating boundaries. Some of it worked, some of it doesn’t. There’s no one size fits all approach to any of it.
And as a person who has been teaching and taking courses from home off and on for the past five years, different things work at different times under certain circumstances.
So instead of thinking I had all the answers, I reached out to some people I admire, respect, and trust to get their best tips for how to “make it work” as an educator in the midst of all this change.
If you’re looking for some inspiration, here’s a list of twenty self-care tips for teachers to do NOW (not only on weekends) with some links to other resources that may be helpful during this time.
From Danielle Nuhfer of Teaching Well
Check out The Teaching Well Member Site created specifically in response to the Covid-19 Crisis. http://www.teachingwell.life/membership/
From Amber Harper of Burned In Teacher Podcast
Check out Amber’s free webinar about how teachers can achieve balance, workflow, and connection while working from home during Covid-19 at www.burnedinteacher.com/crisistocalm
From Jethro Jones of Paperless Principal & Transformative Principal Podcast
Check out this episode of Jethro’s Transformative Principal Podcast, Keeping Calm in Times of Crisis for some great ways to be a support in times of crisis.
From Cindy Goldberg of Mindfulness with Cindy
Contact Cindy Goldberg mindfulnesswithcindy@gmail.com
From Margaret Sargent Meyers, Principal at Chesapeake Bay Academy
From Danny Baur of Better Leaders, Better Schools
Send a “Weekly Check-In” Survey
The survey asks four simple questions:
This survey takes people less than 5-minutes to complete and the teacher and/or administrator can look at the responses and get a pulse for what’s happening with their community.
Anyone who rates a 3 or lower needs to be looped back with.
For more great resources, check out https://www.betterleadersbetterschools.com/
What about you? What’s working for you during this unprecedented time? Jump over to We are Teaching Well and join us as we are always looking for ways to empower teachers to prioritize and nourish themselves so that we can be our best both inside and outside the classroom (no matter if our classroom is in our homes OR our schools!)
If you want to remember this list, please get the downloadable PDF to print out/hang up and reference as you move throughout your week. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and push off the things we know can benefit our own health and well-being.