Heading 1NDMTSS Conference
Description
Teachers have always needed to know and practice protective strategies in their social emotional first aid kits to manage the daily stressors of working on the front lines of a human-service oriented profession. That need has never been greater given the massive increase in uncertainty and unpredictability in the teaching profession and in one's personal life due to COVID.
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In short, teaching is emotional labor-- the effort required to manage and metabolize strong emotions like anger, shame, guilt, anxiety, and overwhelm, as well as generate and stoke positive emotions like joy, hope, and compassion.
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Stress significantly diminishes a teacher's capacity to regulate their negative emotions and cultivate positive emotions. Ironically, teachers who leave the profession often cite their inability to cope with their own emotional reactions to loss of control, unpredictability, and lack of purpose in their teaching as the primary reason for burnout.
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There are many, many strategies and practices rooted in cognitive and affective neuroscience and social and behavioral sciences that teachers can learn, practice, and integrate into their personal and professional lives as teachers to metabolize stress, manage negative energy, protect themselves from the burnout cycle, and find joy in teaching the whole year through!
Learning Objectives
In this session, teachers will:
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Explore the core elements of the teacher burnout cycle and learn how to protect one's self from the 2 paths to burning out,
Books to Bring into the Classroom
We love this book! Used as a read aloud, it can model for students how everyone has bad days, but there are ways to cope. Children will identify with what Hal goes through on his "worst Wednesday" and discover how bad days can turn around for the better.
This beautifully and whimsically illustrated book invites students to feel mindful. This book illuminates the basic tenets of mindfulness through feeling connected to the Earth, grounded in the self, and present with the world around them.
If you are looking for a book to help you integrate mindfulness-based practices into your classroom, look no further! Breathe like a Bear has 30 simple and short breathing and movement practices that help students learn how to stoke kindness for others, calm their bodies, and settle their minds.