I believe a huge part of teaching is also having the ability to give (yourself) time to rejuvenate and find the balance you need in order to prevent burnout. Teachers give so much of themselves and their time to helping and caring for others that they often forget to also look after themselves. Therefore, I wanted to find some ways teachers can incorporate mindfulness into their lives. I understand when I’m a teacher I can’t expect that every day will be “perfect,” and part of being a good teacher is devoting time to your classroom and students. However, I do believe giving yourself some time actually makes you a better teacher as students do read their teachers well and are impacted by their teachers mood and overall motivation/want to be in the classroom.

Below I have included some websites I found for ways teachers can practise mindfulness.

  • I found a website called Teachsmartwithme.com which was created by a school teacher in Australia named Michelle Claire, and in her website I discovered an article called “Mindfulness for Teachers: 9 Easy Activities to Stay Calm in a Stressful Job (https://teachsmartwithme.com/mindfulness-for-teachers/). What I really liked about this resource is she also included links within her article if you wanted a more in depth understanding/description of the benefits of the activities she suggests. Below I will include the two activities that stood out to me that I would be interested in trying.

1. The first strategy this article suggests that I would try is called, “Intentional Focussed Breathing,” this is a mindful breathing exercise where you take a few deep breaths and really focus on them (like in yoga) to calm yourself down. I’ve done this before when I’m feeling anxious/nervous and I find it actually works, as the rest of your thoughts kind of “go away” as you are so focussed on your breath. I think this could help a teacher on a day to day basis, especially in overwhelming or stressful moments.

2. The second strategy I like is, “Journaling: Self Reflection,” as mentioned in the article I think this is really great way to gain a better understanding of what might be bothering you by “isolating” your worry/stress and coming up with helpful ways you can hopefully let that worry go. I also like the idea of the gratitude journal, I think often we spend too much of our energy focussing on things we don’t have or comparing ourselves to others. I think by focussing on the things you already have and are grateful for can help you gain a better appreciation for yourself/worth overall.

This is what the website looks like, and there are many different strategies and readings she suggests, I would be interested in looking at the time management tab.

  • Another article I found is called “Why Mindfulness Strengthens Social Emotional Development and Academic Achievement,” by Waterford.org. Although this website is mainly focussed on ways teachers can integrate mindfulness into their classroom, at the bottom of the article they include 5 ways teachers (themselves) can practise mindfulness.

Below is a screen shot of what it looks like and you can find it by using this link: https://www.waterford.org/education/mindfulness-in-schools/.

Here are two strategies they suggest that stood out to me:

  1. Before class starts take 5-10 minutes to breathe or put on a recorded meditation: I think I could see myself doing this an hour before class starts when I arrive to work in the morning, to calm myself down and get ready for the day with a good headspace.
  2. Set reminders on your phone each day to remember to do a mindfulness activity: I think mindfulness is one of those things you say you’re going to do and then don’t do it, and end of finding yourself creating a list of excuses for why you didn’t do it. I like the idea of having reminders on your phone in order to give yourself ideas and (remember) to actually incorporate it into you or your students day.

*Feature image by Dingzeyu Li on Unsplash