Self care isn't selfish

We are in the giving profession, and if you are giving all the time and don't give back to yourself you run the risk of bleeding out... and when you bleed out you have nothing left to give. 

These are the paraphrased words I heard from Celia Lashlie several years ago at a Teachers Matter conference, they struck a chord then and they still do. 

Self care is an act of kindness, not only for you but for the learners in your care too. Our wellbeing isn't just about us, it allows us to continue giving the best that we can in the current circumstances, whatever they happen to be at the time. I wrote my Masters of Education research on the topic of teacher wellbeing and the key finding is as follows: 

Happy, healthy teachers tend to have happier, healthier classrooms where learners tend to do better academically, socially and emotionally. 

We are coming to the end of what is the most unusual term I have had so far in my career. Covid-19 and all that came with it has meant that we have had to cope with stressors that many of us have never been exposed to before; some of us have had to adapt quickly to changing circumstances whilst at the same time providing calm support for others in our care. For many of us this term has had it's fair share of difficulties. As we come to the end of the term it's not surprising that many of us are a little wrung out. When all of this is considered, the question I ask myself is how can we aim to be happy and healthy as the end of the term approaches? I don't have all the answers, not by a long shot, but I thought I would share a few ideas (in no particular order) around self care that might help. 

First and foremost, remember that self care is not selfish! 

• drink more water- have a water bottle in your classroom if you can. Hydration is so important, I know when I don't drink enough my thinking becomes fuzzy and I find it harder to cope with stress.
• take some deep breaths- when we get stressed our breathing can become more shallow which tells our brain that we are under threat and then it increases production of adrenaline and cortisol which makes us more stressed... it's a viscous cycle. Consciously pausing to take long slow deep breaths helps tell the brain we are safe which cuts into that stress cycle. 
• accept your feelings but try not to let them do the thinking for you- your feelings are yours and they are natural and normal. Our feelings give us information about what is happening in our world, how we choose to respond is where our power lies... pressing pause when you have a strong feeling to notice it and breathe will give you time for the intensity of the feeling to pass and then you can think more clearly. 
• let go of stuff if you can- working out what is important to do right now and letting go of the other stuff for now can be helpful, if you are able to make peace with not doing everything! It occurred to me not so long ago that teaching really is one long endless to do list and that helped me make peace with not getting everything done. 
• have a hug (if it's your thing)- when we have a hug or feel connection to someone it is said that we release oxytocin which is a hormone that reduces stress. 
• take time out to be grateful- each day list 10 things that you are grateful for, you can do this with a friend, with your students, in a diary or a journal. Practicising gratitude helps us tune in to the good we have in our lives... and the more we tune in to gratitude, the more we notice that we can be grateful for. 
• be playful- it is easy for us to take everything seriously but when we do it can become a heavy burden to bear, playfulness helps to lighten the load. 
• contribute positively to someone or something else- when we help someone else we get a bit of a good vibe, doing good feels good. It doesn't have to be something big either, the smallest acts of kindness can make a big difference. Last week a colleague of mine came out to do half of my morning tea duty so I could enjoy a special morning tea too... it was such a kind surprise, a small thing that made a big difference. 
• look after your sleep- if you can try to get to bed a little earlier... turning off screens before bed and taking time to get ready for sleep can help you get a better night's rest.  
• avoid skipping meals- we can't do what we do without energy and that comes from what we fuel ourselves with. I totally get the sugar or caffeine hit when the rubber hits the road, but try to have some fruit and nuts (and other healthy choices) during the day as well. You don't have to be perfect, just remember that teaching is a high energy job and you deserve to fuel yourself regularly as well as you can. Preparing meals in advance can help you eat regularly and avoid sugar overloading. 
• appreciate your learners- tell them how much you appreciate them, celebrate their successes (however small), this is an investment in the relationships that are supportive for you and your students wellbeing. 
• share good news with families- if you have time flicking a short message to families with some good news can be such a boost for them, you and the individual learners... everyone gets to feel good! 
• a little of what you love is a good thing- if you love chocolate then go for it, but try to savour it, really taste it and enjoy it. If you have a hobby you love is there a way you can indulge in your hobby, savouring and enjoying it for a moment or two?  
• have some alone time- sometimes you just need a few minutes in your own company, sometimes you need space to concentrate; think about how you can schedule a date with yourself. 

Perhaps your staff can come together to support each other as the term comes to a close: 

• have a shared lunch once a week 
• share a resource with others that might be helpful 
• tell the funny stories from what happens in your classroom, it might brighten someone's day 
• if you see something great in someone's classroom or with one of their students tell them, and tell others about the good you are seeing too
• ask for advice, most people are happy to help if they can 
• say thank you to others for what they have done or do for you
• remember that most people are doing the best they can with what they have right now... offer graciousness to others if you can 

Please note: If you are feeling totally overwhelmed and unwell the best thing you can do to care for yourself is to seek help, there are a range of services to support you. Please don't think you have to do this alone. 

This is just a collection of ideas from one teacher to her peers. I know there are so many other things we can do to care for ourselves. Please feel free to share your ideas, we are all in this together. 

Take care x 

Am I ready? A poem for returning to school

Am I ready? 

Someone asked me today if I was ready for school, the simple answer's no. 
Sure the tables are tidy, pens and books sorted out, a timetable done, even so...
There are so many things I simply don't know... 

What has happened for my little ones in the weeks gone by? 
Will they be outgoing and chatty or fearful and shy? 
There are many I've heard from but some I have not... 
Do they know that I care, or do they think I forgot... 
What questions do they carry? What worries do they hold? 
Will their parents be warm and approachable or distant and cold? 

And how will school look like, after this time that has passed? 
Will we continue the same old, or answer questions we have asked... 
About digital connection, home partnerships, and more, 
Like minimising inequity and starting to settle the score? 

The thing is no matter how much I prepare, how brilliant are my plans,
Tomorrow I will meet my learners with heart and mind in hand, 
And move with them, prepared to dance and discover on shifting sand. 

With hope, as always :) 

\

Teaching and learning with the heart and brain in mind from a distance

Teaching and learning with the heart and brain in mind from a distance has it's challenges, especially in the circumstances we find ourselves in currently with our global pandemic. I'm taking some time today to put down some thoughts that I hope offer some support as we navigate uncharted territory for many of us. 

Despite all the shifts and changes we are seeing around us one thing hasn't changed, I still believe the heart of teaching is all about relationships. Perhaps more than ever we need to be connected with our learners and their needs. We need to be aware. 

One way to help us connect with our learners is to consider the magic brain. This is the work of Glenn Capelli and is a great construct to help us understand the brain and consider behaviour and learning from a place of empathy. 


I could talk a lot about the magic brain (and you can read more about it in other posts, see here and here) but for now I'd like to focus on what we may see between the thinking room and the other rooms in the current climate. To learn and manage big emotions we need to be in our thinking room. When we are under stress we can drop to the lower rooms of our brain where it is harder to respond intelligently to what is happening around us, we can become highly emotional; flighty, feisty, or withdrawn. Families may find this situation stressful and find the pressure of 'school at home,' or as we are saying 'bubble school', difficult to deal with. One strategy I have taught all my students and their families is the Stop, Breathe, Think then Do strategy. It is simple and all based around opening the doors of the magic brain so we can think more clearly.

Getting our brain ready to think and learn is a useful place to start, not only for our children, it's great for us as well. I like to keep in mind that happy healthy teachers tend to have happier healthier learners who tend to do better socially, emotionally and academically. So making sure you are doing what you can to support your own health and wellbeing (and if it feels hard, just start small) is worth the effort... if you can't do it for yourself, remember what a great difference it can make for your learners. 

Teaching and learning will be different to what we are used to if we normally teach in face to face classrooms. The changes we are faced with could be daunting or exciting. They can be considered challenges to overcome or opportunities to stretch and grow. I have no doubt that there will be times that it gets hard, but it won't all or always be hard. I acknowledge that there may be times when we feel angry, stressed, overwhelmed; I hope there are also times when we feel energised, excited and positive. As you have no doubt heard before we cannot choose our circumstances but we can choose where we focus our energy. 

One of the greatest drains on energy I find is complaining, when I complain without actively engaging in solution finding the gloom seems to settle over me like a heavy grey blanket and it sucks the joy from any situation I find myself in. It's OK to have these low times, it is said we cannot have life's joys without it's sorrows, but we don't want them to cloud over everything for too long. When I find myself in the gloom I try to refocus my energy on something positive, I also work through Stop, Breathe, Think and Do. I offer myself some self care- choosing healthy options even if I'd rather eat a whole block of chocolate (by the way I'm not bagging chocolate... it can be great, especially if you really savour the pleasure of eating it). 


One way to exercise self care, and care for others, is to remember that the situation we are in right now is new for everyone in some way, shape or form. The word unprecedented is used often to describe this situation, and it is. Please be gentle and kind, with yourself and others. Pace yourself, breathe, ask for help, talk about your feelings, just take one step at a time. As we plan the tasks for our learners keep KISS in mind: Keep It Simple & Slow.  

Coming back to our magic brain, as we are planning for what we are doing for our children who are learning from home or in physically distanced environments at school we can look at what each room of the brain needs. 

Connection and belonging: 

This helps to create a sense of security for learners, that they are in a safe place with people who care about them. This helps to open the door of the red room. 

• What classroom traditions can you continue? Small things can give a sense of continuity and confidence to our learners. 
• How are you going to communicate with your learners? This might be a great opportunity to get comfortable on camera. 
• What personal touches can you add to help connect and engage with your learners? Perhaps you share a link to something one of them are passionate about, maybe you find areas of similarity and celebrate it. 
• Can you inject some fun or laughter into your connection? Try a silly outfit or tell some jokes. Share something funny from your life or experiences lately. Try to offer some lightness.

Structure: 

Structure helps tame insecurity that comes from uncertainty, and uncertainty tends to make us emotionally vulnerable. I tend to have a looser structure but we have little routines and traditions to be supportive- for our learners and their families as well as ourselves. This will help open our emotional glitter room door. 

• Can you offer some predictability into your work with your learners? Perhaps post a regular morning message each school day. Let your learners and families know when to expect posts or communications from you. You might use a consistent format for communications. 
• What is your feedback going to look like? Consider how often you will respond to the work your learners share, again a sense of predictability and relationship is part of this. 
• How will you communicate with and support your learner's families over this time? You might consider a regular schedule for messages. It may be worth finding what format works best for the families you are working with, some may be limited with access to devices etc, some may need more communication from you and others less. 

Challenge: 

The brain loves challenge, and if we are in our big blue thinking room we need it, it loves to stretch and so when we are planning consider how we can give learning opportunities that offer that. 

• How will you engage thinking in the learning tasks you offer? Think about asking big, hairy questions. Choose topics that you think will appeal to your learners. By all means offer a variety of tasks so that your learners and their families can choose low stress options but think about how you can engage thinking. 
• Can you provide learning tasks that engage thinking for everyone? Individualised tasks might be a tall order especially when teaching from a distance so perhaps we are better to set open-ended tasks. Think about the low-floor/high-ceiling approach that Jo Boaler advocates. 

Right now, for most of us, we are in a unique situation. This is new. My hope is that through this time we might discover new skills, appreciate ourselves better, and build stronger relationships with some of our learners and their families. 

Take care of yourselves and know that the work you are doing is really appreciated by so many. 

Ten Cs for teachers to stay well while staying at home for work :) Part 3

And to finish this blog series of 10 Cs to stay well while staying at home for work. The focus this time is on our mindset. 

Challenge:

At the moment we have been presented with an opportunity for us to learn new things and to do things differently, we may not have chosen the circumstances but we can choose to embrace the opportunity to stretch our brains. Our brain does love to be challenged- this will come from taking risks and making mistakes while we learn, just like we ask our learners to do in our classrooms every day!

We might have the challenge of creating a work space in our homes, as a wee tip I am fond of using my ironing board at times as a substitute desk 😊 (it doesn’t get used for much else very often to be honest!) We might have the challenge of how we work with our own children needing us as well, I’ve been getting my boy to join in on the challenges I set my class and occasionally film him doing things to share with the class, he also sometimes joins in on my songs or listens to me read the novel I am for my class. We have the challenge of what to do for our classes, how much work to set and how to meet all the diverse needs in varying circumstances. My suggestion is to start off by keeping it simple and going slow, we are all new to this.

Contribute: 

We all offer value and I encourage you to share your gems with others, and there are so many ways you can! You don’t have to learn all the new things, share the load by sharing the wisdom with your colleagues. Even when we work from home we have the capacity to collaborate, there are tools we can use to help us do this more easily and we might even come up with ways to work together effectively that we can use after all this is over!

Also consider the unique skills and talents that you have and how you can use these to connect and engage with your learners- you might record yourself singing favourite songs to share with your class, you might write poems or stories for your class about things that you know will appeal to them, you might create art or do cartoons, you might be great at sewing or crafts and you can share examples of what you are making… the only limit is your imagination.

Change:

Let’s be honest teaching shifts and changes all the time so teachers are not strangers to change! Change by its very nature can cause uncertainty and be distressing. It can also lead to excitement, energy, and growth.

We are in a privileged position to support our learners to navigate this very different learning environment by being champions of change. We can show them how to embrace change, how to be calm and connected when faced with uncertainty.

Working from home is a change for many of us, it has a range of benefits as well as challenges, as with any changing circumstance.  What are you going to focus on?  

Choice: 

In every moment we have the power to choose, I know it is a bit of a cliché but I’ll say it here again because it is a useful mindset to adopt, we cannot choose our circumstances but we can choose our attitudes.

We can choose to see all the problems we are faced with in the coming weeks; we might be feeling overwhelmed or stressed, which are perfectly normal emotions especially now, but if we feed this negative energy then all that we do will be coloured by this negativity, instead of rose tinted glasses we'll be wearing grey, gloomy lenses instead. We can choose to see the opportunities that come from setbacks; the opportunities to create something new, the opportunities to learn new things, the opportunities to give positive energy at a time when many people may be struggling, the opportunity to continue doing our important work.

A shift in perspective doesn’t mean denying our feelings, it means giving ourselves time to feel our feelings and then making choice about how long we are going to give any particular feeling the floor. If watching news or social media feeds fuels our anxiety then choose to switch off. If you are feeling uncertain (and who isn’t at the moment) choose to focus on what you can control, even just one little thing. 

Working from home can be seen as a burden or a privilege. We haven't chosen it but we can choose to make the best of the circumstances. 

1. Focus on creating a healthy internal environment for your work- create calm, act with caution around negative habits, and make sure you make time to chill out. 
2. Focus on your work- remember your can-do-ness (you've got this!), let yourself get creative and connect with others regularly. 
3. Focus on your mindset- face challenges with a sense of optimism, contribute and collaborate, be a champion of change and always remember the power of your choice. 

Take care out there everyone. 

Ten C’s for Teachers to stay well while staying at home for work 😊 Part 2

Continuing with our 10 C’s... 

Can-do-ness

This is about self-belief and self-efficacy; you are a competent teacher and this situation doesn’t change that. Teaching is likely going to be quite different, and there will certainly be challenges, but the heart of what you do hasn’t changed… you are still building and maintaining relationships.

Remember, you’ve got this!  

It helps to spend some time thinking about what your strengths are and how you can use those strengths in different ways. For the areas that you are uncomfortable with, this is a time to ask for help, there are a number of people out there ready and willing to help us.

Create

There is a myth out there that only some people are ‘creative’, and the rest of us just aren’t. Creativity isn’t just about being able to make masterpieces, it is something that is an innately human endeavour. We are creative when we play with ideas, when we whip up a meal, when we put together an outfit, when we plant a garden, when we make art, when we tell stories, when we plan a lesson… you get the idea. Even a small amount of creativity where we take risks and embrace our mistakes can be great for our brain and sense of self.

We have been given an opportunity to have time to really get creative in our work and play which could be a little bit exciting. It doesn’t have to be straight away, you might not be ready yet, but the opportunity is there. Perhaps start small and work your way up.  

Connect

This is huge. Connection with others is a physiological need; we can’t survive, let alone thrive, without other people from the time we are born. Consider how you are connecting with colleagues, students, your friends and family. As many are saying at the moment we may be physically isolated but we don’t have to be socially isolated.

Relationships are key for us in teaching, always have been, always will be.  How we relate to our learners is important- our communication channels might be different now but the need to form and maintain connection remains the same. One of the differences is that our communications may be more open, with more engagement with the family of our students and more personal as we are visiting each other’s homes (albeit virtually). This could be hugely positive in creating stronger links between families, learners and their teachers. 

This is a big question for us to consider and keep in mind as we plan ahead. What do we really want for the learners in our care? 

Ten C’s for Teachers to stay well while staying at home for work: Part 1

A while back I was what they called a tele-worker- I worked from home for part of the time and travelled for the rest. It was a great lifestyle and I really enjoyed working from home. Fast forward a few years and I have studied and learned a bit about teacher wellbeing as well as returning to full time classroom teaching. 
Now we are faced with a time of uncertainty where many of us will be working from home for a portion of time, how long we aren't really sure yet. I know that for some of us this will be new and that can be unsettling. So I have gathered some thoughts from my learning over the years here, I hope it is helpful.

Calm:

Calm really is a superpower especially when working from home. There will be frustrations at times and the capacity for overwhelm is huge too. I am noticing at the moment there is so much information and so many companies sharing their products and services that it’s easy to become overwhelmed by it all.

Take a breath and, if you can, focus on one thing at a time. Ask yourself “what is the most important thing for me to do right now?”. The answer may simply to focus on your breathing for a while and that’s OK… big, juicy, deep breaths are great for your body and mind.

Caution:

Here are three red lights I found for when you are in the work zone at home:

• ·       Sitting too much- it is easy, especially when using devices for communication, to sit for too long which isn’t great for us in the long term. One way to make sure you don’t sit too long is to set an alarm to get up and move every 20-30 minutes.
• ·       Bored eating- when you have a kitchen near your workspace, and I know some of us might even be working in our kitchens, it is easy to reach for a chocolate biscuit because we are bored. There’s nothing wrong with the odd chocolate biscuit but high energy/low nutrient foods are not an ideal regular food. Try to have a little snack bowl of fruit and nuts readily available and remember to drink water regularly.
• ·       Distractions can be everywhere… especially if you are looking for them!- The flexibility of working from home is fantastic, you can make more choices about when and where you do the work, I love that. But it is easy to be distracted by TV, other people, housework, other projects and so much more. Remember that the brain cannot focus on two things at the same time, so if we are multitasking we are actually rapidly switching focus which can be taxing on our energy. You can get through more, faster if you focus on one thing at a time.

Chill out:

One of the other pitfalls from working from home is that you can be working all the time, it can be hard to switch off but switching off is really important. It might be that you only do work in one particular spot in your house so that when you are away from there you are not working. Or you could log out of work apps or switch off devices at a certain time. Or maybe you schedule your day so there is specific work time and specific down time. Whatever works for you, but please make sure you switch off, it’ll make you more productive and a happier human being 😊

Also, as educators we are in a giving profession and for many of us giving is easy. In order to be able to keep giving however we need to carve out a little time for ourselves. It might be that we create a calm soothing space to chill out. It might be that we do some reading, a hobby, something physical, meditation… you get the picture. This is not selfish, this is refuelling so you can keep doing what you do best!

I'll follow up with some more around our work life at home. 

Genius Hour- giftEDnz challenge

Kia ora koutou... 

The challenge we have is to explore Genius Hour. I have often found it enticing, dabbled a little, but I couldn't quite see myself following the rules correctly. Tonight I read the following blog post: Idea Starters for the Genius Hour Classroom  and what sweet relief! In the comments there was a thread about research and one comment struck a chord: "it’s a grassroots movement without a lot of rules about “how to do it.”" 

Now regardless of whether this is correct or not it has give me a sense of freedom... no more feeling like I need to have a bunch of lists and criteria etc. I can have the focus on pursuing a passion and that's OK. A focus on creation as opposed to consumption works for me too. 

I feel that this will meet a need that I haven't addressed fully for some of my tamariki this year fully. I am hopeful. 

The lists of possible areas that may be explored are appealing too: 

• human ingenuity
• health and social education
• environment
• community service
• The Arts
• design/make/build something
• learn new info
• investigate passion

My intention is to start a conversation around this with my terrific tamariki and build it together. It will just be a start for us this term.