Avoiding Holiday Burnout in the Classroom

Avoiding Burnout: During the Holidays (And Every Day)

The holidays. People wishing others joy, peace, and love. Sometimes the wish seems far-fetched. Stress and chaos abound during the holiday season. Between last-minute shopping, bickering relatives, cooking, cleaning, parties you are too tired for, and endless to-do lists, it can be easy to lose perspective. Don’t let that stress weasel its way into your life and your classroom.

Nurture Yourself

Research finds that between one-third to one-half of teachers quit within their first five years. During the holidays we are taught to put others first. Teachers might feel compelled to always do so. This is a recipe for disaster. To serve others, you must first serve yourself. The oft-told advice of fresh air, exercise, down-time, meditation and bubble baths may be trite, but they hold true. Treat yourself. Whatever that means to you. Pretend like it’s your birthday and do what you want more than once a year. You deserve it.

Say “No”

If you are a people-pleaser this is going to be difficult for you. But dip your toe in and just try it. If someone asks you to go somewhere or do something and you don’t feel up to it, just say, “no”. You don’t have to give a reason or excuse. It is better to say “no” to a few things so you can do just one or two things well, rather than spreading yourself too thin. When you do too much, you become drained. When you become drained, you become resentful. Don’t fall into the trap!

Resentment Kills Passion

Teachers start with passion in their hearts to change the lives of students. They are thwarted by long hours, hard-to-please parents, students that need lessons in behavior, and exhaustion. It can be a slippery slope from passion to apathy. When you start to feel like a hamster on a wheel, gather your strength, hop off, and look for solutions. Ask for help. Your students and your community want you to be healthy and succeed.

Practice Positivity

Remind yourself why you do what you do. Try not to let the negative get under your skin. This, of course, is easier said than done. But meditation isn’t only about calm breathing and clearing your mind. Practice meditating on the positive within each moment. Really listen when a student laughs with delight. Thrill in the moment a student has that “lightbulb” moment and they fully grasp a difficult concept. Celebrate the positive that is all around you every day.

You ARE Making a Difference

If you change the life of just ONE child for the better, you have made a difference. That child doesn’t have to become the next Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey, although they are just two of the many who credit their success to their teachers. If one child you help just helps one other person, there will be a snowball effect. And that effect will bring more joy, peace, and love to the world. Which makes you a hero. Inspire your students by sharing the stories of other people who have shaped the world through their passion. 

For more ideas in finding inspiration and avoiding burnout, check out our Outstanding Americans book and have a Happy Holidays!

Students' enthusiasm will skyrocket with this series of articles about outstanding Americans and their accomplishments. This high-interest/low-readability book is a terrific way to build basic skills while enhancing students' appreciation of cultural diversity. Outstanding Americans at remedia.com.

Or get this book from our Digital website RemediaDigital.com

Outstanding Americans. 

Gratitude Beyond the Thanksgiving Table

Why Gratitude Matters Every Day and Ways to Encourage It

When we were kids, we were taught to say, “please and thank you,” if we wanted something. We were also taught to “be thankful,” around the Thanksgiving table. But there is so much more to the practice of gratitude.

Research shows that practicing gratitude has a multitude of positive effects. From feeling less stress to better physical health and a happier mindset, its effects are far-reaching. Students have even been shown to be more alert, compassionate, and positive when they are practicing gratitude.

Write It Down

We’ve all heard of expressing gratitude through keeping a gratitude journal. This can be a simple exercise every morning where students choose one or two things that they are grateful for. After they have run through their family members, friends, and pets, it becomes trickier. Encourage them to look for beauty in every-day life that they can feel thankful for. The crunch of fall leaves under a boot, a warm jacket, and a parent cooking dinner when they arrive home are just a few examples.

Share

Keep a grateful jar in the classroom. Encourage students to write thoughtful notes about reasons they are grateful to fellow classmates. Go through them at the end of the week to share out loud. Once they get the hang of it, they can express gratitude face-to-face and feel comfortable doing so.

Write Letters

Write a group gratitude letter to someone in your school, community, or even a public figure. Help the students be specific about their reasons of gratitude. The librarian, the school receptionist, the janitors, and cafeteria workers would surely all appreciate such a thoughtful gesture.

Help Students Look Deeper

It is easy to be grateful for a new pet, a new car, or expensive new clothes. But once the novelty wears off, sometimes so does the gratitude. Self-serving gratitude is a precursor to resentment and envy as others will always seemingly have more than us.

Encourage students to delve deeper. Rather than being grateful just to have something fancy and new, what are the feelings that are driving the gratitude? Help them find that more meaningful level of appreciation. Do they feel fortunate because their parents are generous? Are they proud because they worked hard to earn and save for something? Do they like the items because it improves their self-confidence? When they become grateful for feelings rather than things, they will have found a deeper level in their gratitude practice.

Model the Practice

Being grateful is a constant practice. When you find yourself feeling negative and ungrateful, recognize those feelings. Ask for help and ideas from the students with ways to look at things in a more positive light. They will appreciate the chance to brainstorm and get involved.

Gratitude is just one character trait that we can all improve upon. For more ideas in improving social skills and behavior, check out our Real-World Skills Series - Book 1 on Improving Behavior and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

For more social skills lessons, check out the Real-World Skills Series for lessons on honesty, generosity and kindness; Real-World Skills: Social Skill - Improving Behavior (book 1) at remedia.com.

Or get this book from our Digital website RemediaDigital.com

Real-World Skills: Social Skills - Improving Behavior - Book 1 

Helping Students Develop Social Skills

Improve Social Behavior

One of the most important things students learn at school is how to interact with each other. It isn’t taught as a subject like English, History, and Math, but perhaps it should be. And so, the subject falls on every teacher to teach social skills to every student, everyday.

Having possibly experienced isolation, financial hardships, and even loss of loved ones, students are yearning for a “return to normal.”  After being cooped up for over a year, many students will need a bit of a refresher when it comes to their social skills. Come to think of it, we all could!

Add the complication of having to wear masks, then social skills become even more important. With facial recognition not fully kicking in until the age of 14, younger children wearing masks can have a hard time recognizing their friends, let alone be able to communicate with them. There are ways to help them socially so we can all stay well physically.

Improve Communication Skills

Students need to speak clearly and make eye contact while speaking. Listeners need to put all distractions aside and give their full attention. Educators can make a game of it. For example, have students read instructions that guide other students through a series of tasks.

Expression 

Remind them that even if they are wearing a mask they can still communicate with expressions. A smile can be seen in the eyes as well as the mouth. Expressive hand gestures and body language help with communication. Words, of course, can also express feelings.

Encourage Optimism

Model optimism by showing the students how to find the positive in what is originally seen as negative. A field trip being canceled for bad weather can feel like a real loss. Getting to watch a movie or play a game, and rescheduling the field trip can feel like a win. Encourage them to use positive words. “No worries,” uses two negative sounding words. “You’re welcome,” is a positive statement.

Being Easy-Going

After spending so much time with their families, students will have to relearn how to navigate social situations with their peers. Giving in doesn’t mean giving up. Remind students that when working in a group situation everyone can’t always have their way. When everyone makes compromises, common goals are more easily met.

Catch Them in the Act

Students interact with each other all day long. Acknowledge their acts of generosity and kindness. Make a game out of doing random acts of kindness in and out of the classroom. Have students share their personal favorite from that week.

Honesty

Talk about how practicing honesty isn’t a free pass to say cruel things. The goal and intention behind the truth are what matters. The old adage, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” still holds true.

For social skills lessons, check out the Real-World Skills Series for lessons on honesty, generosity and kindness; Real-World Skills: Social Skill - Improving Behavior (book 1) at remedia.com.

Or get this book from our Digital website RemediaDigital.com

Real-World Skills: Social Skills - Improving Behavior - Book 1