Episode 4 is up and it’s not about the kids–it’s about YOU. You have got to take care of yourself or you’ll never be able to take care of anyone or anything else. People in helping professions sometimes have the urge to help everyone. . . except themselves. It sounds counterintuitive but to be a good teacher you’re going to have to be a little selfish. Always save a little time, energy, and care for yourself. Fiercely defend your mental health. Deliberately guard your physical health.
On the topic of self care, the Netflix show Queer Eye recently had Jonathan Van Ness go back to his hometown with the Fab 5 to give his high school band director a makeover. It is heartwarming and beautiful. She was clearly a supportive person in Van Ness’ teenage years, when LGBTQ kids had a hard time finding supportive people. People certainly cry when they watch Queer Eye. If you watch it through the lens of teacher self care, you’ll see that his teacher had long neglected herself and needs to strike a balance between taking care of the kids and herself. The moral of the story is that you can’t wait for 30 years for a famous student to come home and give you a haircut. You’re going to have to take care of that–of YOU–yourself. Please watch Season 4, Episode 1 of Queer Eye but if you can’t, The Sun has all the high points in this recap.
As a teacher, you’ll need to learn to handle the stress it causes in your life. The best place to learn those skills is at a therapist’s office. Make sure you understand your insurance so that you’re getting the full value of those benefits. Then find a therapist that will teach you how to take care of your mental health. You can ask your friends, your doctor, or your HR department for their recommendations. WebMD defines what all of those letters mean after the therapist’s name (LPCC, Psy D, MSW, MD…it’s confusing!) to help you determine what kind of therapist you might need. If you don’t click with the therapist after the first 1-3 appointments, find someone else. Make your own mental health your highest priority.
So here’s the lesson plan for Episode 4:
Objective: By the end of this episode, you will be able to practice some self-care strategies that will get you through the school year.
Do Now: What do you do to take care of yourself?
Lesson: We start with some examples of the opposite of self-care. Margaret shares a story of what happens when you don’t take care of yourself. And then we talk about ways to take care of yourself. Exercise. Eat lunch. Make time for creative outlets. Meditate. Find a quiet time in your day. Do something with your friends.
- Meditation is an excellent way to take care of yourself. Glenetta and Margaret highly recommend Headspace. Headspace teaches you how to meditate and breathe. It also has features that will help you sleep. And they are bending over backward to make their service helpful and affordable to teachers. Try it.
- Exercise! Talk to someone at your union or district to see if they offer discounts on a local gym. Find out if your insurance plan offers incentives for getting fit. Download a app that helps you exercise. Go on a walk or find something free to do at a local park or in your own backyard. Give yourself the gift of fitness and it will pay off in so many ways.
- Eat your lunch. Margaret is good at prepping her meals on the weekend. Glenetta often buys a bag of non-perishable groceries (granola bars, crackers, cans of soup) that she keeps at school for quick easy lunches. Whatever works for you is great. Just eat your lunch.
- Make your grading easy on yourself. First, decide if the assignment just needs a cursory glance from or a thorough assessment that goes in the gradebook. If it is something that needs to go in the gradebook, plan how to grade it. Rubistar is helpful in creating rubrics. Putting thought into the grading will also help you make sure your assignments are focused on the standards that you want your students to meet.
Homework: Make a list of things that fill your cup. What makes you feel more like you and not like “the teacher”?
Notes/Credits: We have used a few resources to help us learn about self-care. You can find a few links to them here if you’d like to learn more about it, too:
What you don't know YET. . . 