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,
Description
Teaching is a spiritual practice-- the challenges of teaching can bring you closer to discovering your greatest capacity for creative teaching and authentic relationships with students.
Teaching as a spiritual practice means that educators know how to leverage the stress as invitations into deeper self-awareness and alignment with self-expression.
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Teachers often report entering the profession of teaching feeling "called" by a force unique to their very being to serve children and the world through this heart and human centered profession. When teachers feel connected to their calling through their teaching and connection with students, teaching feels energizing, effortless, and invigorating. On the flip side, when teachers feel that their core values, natural talents, and capacity to authentically connect with their students feels stifled or limited, they experience "moral injury" which is described as a soul/ psychic wound of the teacher. This is when teachers tend to lose heart in their teaching.
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Spiritually resilient teachers know how to:
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protect themselves from the 3 primary causes of burnout,
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metabolize the stressors of teaching in a way that allows them to gain greater awareness and insight of themselves and another,
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de-escalate their stress triggers and regulate their emotions while teaching,
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instantly align any moment with their core values so to act in alignment with who they are and what their students need
Learning Objectives
In this highly experiential learning session, teachers will:
MIND
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Learn about the 3 primary causes and manifestations/symptoms of burnout and moral injury.
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Explore the research on teaching as a spiritual practice to deepen self and situational awareness and compassion for self and others.
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Engage (2) mindfulness-based practices to calm the triggered mind and body.
BODY
PRACTICE
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Engage in reflective practice that re-connects them to their core values and primary purpose as an educator.
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Put into practice the 4 step process of the Educator Infinite Well-Being ModelTM to learn the process for metabolizing "problems" as the portal to cultivating resilience and protection from moral injury.
Interested in this session?
Contact Jen to discuss how to customize this professional learning experience to meet your unique staff well-being needs and fit your professional development schedule:
jen.presentwellbeing@gmail.com
