Hello Teachers,
Welcome to teaching. You have chosen one of the most rewarding, fun and exciting careers to embark on. Yes, it is also tiring, overwhelming and there are moments of stress that will arise too.
Teaching though, can be a little bit, if not a whole lot easier than most will have you believe, I promise! To achieve this though, you have to do a bit of work now, to get ahead, so that you can have more freedom in your day. We want you to run your day, not have the day run you.
So how do you run your day?
1. Get Organised
Know your day, get organised for it the day before, make a plan, use lists, leave nothing to the last minute.
2. Goals
Don’t leave your progress to chance. Even the most successful people set goals, it means instead of having each day as Groundhog Day, going through the motions and not knowing where you are heading, you have something to focus on. This will also help to avoid the overwhelm you may be feeling by not knowing where to focus your energy or time.
3. Self-Care
Yoga? Not exactly. Self-care is so important to how you make it through the day/week/term, but it isn’t always about the easy type of self-care like yoga and sleeping in. Sometimes, self-care is hard. Going to bed early, putting down your phone, moving when you just want to crash on the couch, drinking water (coffee doesn’t count sorry), making your lunch and eating it too. These are my pillars for self-care, not easy, but totally worth it.
4. Assessment
Testing, writing reports, parent-teacher meetings. I imagine this is how you view assessment at the moment. You know about formative and summative assessment, but how do you make it work? My secret – EVERYTHING is assessment. Yes, everything. A conversation or comment, the group chat you overheard in a maths game, the work in your student’s book, whole-class activities on mini-whiteboards. It’s ALL assessment. You don’t have to think of it as testing or something that happens ‘after learning’, nor does it have to be planned, the best assessment often comes when you least expect it.
5. Teamwork
Your colleagues are a bit like a box of roses on the staff room table, some you adore, some you are happy to leave behind, but overall you couldn’t get through the day without them. Whilst you don’t always get to pick your team you do have to work with them, and they with you. Be kind, offer help, ask questions, give back, smile; kindness is free and it goes a long way.
So there you have it, a few ways which can make teaching a little easier, right from my very own handbook.
If these things connect with you and make you smile and nod your head, and you would like to know more,join me Thursday, March 19th for a webinar where I will share how you can learn more about these things and what we have in store for you this year within Real Schools Academy.
Register to the webinar here.
Visit our Real Schools Academy webpage here.