Teach Brilliantly - Riding the Ebbs and Flows of Teaching

Riding the Ebbs and Flows of Teaching

Jenning Prevatte, M. Ed.

Education is a field of ebbs and flows. Sometimes, teachers are relaxed and excited for the coming year or running around with their heads cut off like chickens and just exhausted. Even before the pandemic, teachers struggled with work-life balance. Teaching is a mentally, emotionally, and physically demanding career. It is gratifying, however, to have a sustainable career in education; educators must set boundaries, identify strategies that support wellness, and create work-life balance.

This is a big topic of conversation as the field struggles with recruiting new teachers and keeping the ones currently in the classroom. In a previous blog, Connections Matter, I wrote, “To connect effectively with students, we must reconnect to our strengths, build our self-efficacy and resilience, and stay true to our purpose for teaching and learning. However, doing this while experiencing stress, feeling burnt out, or lacking support can be challenging. I aim to inspire brilliant teachers and support them in reconnecting to their passion. Education can build bridges; we must identify creative ways to support social-emotional skills for ourselves and our learners.”

Over the last five-plus years, I’ve been very interested in supporting new teachers who enter the field with realistic expectations and resilience to do challenging teaching work. A few ways to support social-emotional skills that I’ve discovered are:

Be clear on your purpose and goals, and have realistic expectations.
Be flexible and know what is in your power of control and what isn’t.
Get outside – connect with nature. I recommend connecting with nature in multiple ways and at different times of the day, especially if you are stressed. Nature has restorative powers that can improve your mood and help you feel more relaxed. I even recommend taking recess with your students at least twice daily for ECE and Elementary Teachers.
(I know, I can hear some of you saying, “I can only take one.” Find a way...where there is a will, there is a way.)
Move while teaching and learning – Movement increases brain oxygen and boosts creativity, problem-solving, and productivity.
My favorite suggestion is to meditate. Meditation has long-term benefits, and a little can go a long way. Some benefits are reducing stress and negative emotions and increasing positive outlook and self-awareness. In addition, it helps increase patience, tolerance, and creativity.

Suppose you are looking for a practical book to learn about bringing meditation and mindfulness to your teaching practice. In that case, I recommend Mindfulness in the Classroom: Strategies for Promoting Concentration, Compassion, and Calm by Thomas Armstrong. This book explains the ways that mindfulness affects the structure and function of the brain while providing a connection to classroom methodology that supports educational models such as Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS), and Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

Also, check out my Effective Teaching Toolkit for Practicing Mindfulness in the Classroom infographic. In this infographic, I share steps to practicing mindfulness in any classroom. I use this strategy in my college classes, and my students find it incredibly valuable. Plus, it only takes a minute, and I’ve experienced many benefits from this practice.