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,
Back-to-School Week
Inspirational & Motivational Sessions
*3 hour ~ 1/2 day "Retreat" Offering
*6 hour ~ Full day "Restoration" Offering
The Burnout Antidote
Our students mirror back to us the state of our well-being, thus as youth workers and "human service professionals," it is our professional responsibility to understand the origins of mental and emotional well-being and intimately know and practice the process of stoking our innate resilience.
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In this full immersion experience, educators and youth workers will learn and engage with the key components of the Burnout Antidote-- a research-based practice plan that draws from SEL theory, mindfulness, neuroscience, human transformation theory, and trauma informed practices that invites educators to:
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learn the process of strategically transforming stress into emotional and mental resilience
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discover the origins or mental and emotional health and well-being
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engage in a systematic process that cultivates adult SEL (social and emotional capacities) of self-awareness, emotional agility, and compassion for self and others
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In this highly experiential session, educators will learn and practice relevant strategies and techniques they can use throughout the school year to maintain a positive perspective, keep burnout at bay, and engage youth from a place of authenticity, respect, and compassion.
Educators and youth workers will:
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learn about the 4 Foundational Pillars of Educator Presence and Well-Being ​
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discover the origins of well-being, joy, and purpose while learning neuroscience-based practices that stoke innate capacities of happiness and passion-aligned action
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explore and experience the core fundamentals of mindfulness and learn about the positive impact and influence of mindful movement in physical, mental, and emotional well-being
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explore and understand the origins, nature, stages, and symptoms of stress and burnout while learning mindfulness-based strategies to keep burnout, secondary trauma, and compassion fatigue at bay
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practice the Burning In Process through engagement of the 4 step Infinite Well-Being ModelTM
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Create your own customized professional development offering from our list of interesting and important topics
Transfiguring Teacher Stress & Burnout
This is our most popular introductory session if you are bringing Present TeacherTM PD to your school for the first time. Stress is actually functional and important to our personal and professional growth, yet few of us are trained to handle the stress-load of a modern teacher.
In this highly experiential session, teachers will:
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explore and experience the fundamentals of mindfulness
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learn about the nature of the mind
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explore the origins of teacher stress
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gain insight about the the 3 stages of teacher burnout
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explore the ways unchecked burnout manifests in the classroom setting and relationships with students
Teacher will:
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practice 2-3 mindful awareness meditations to defuse the stress reaction
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be exposed to several online resources to build a daily stillness/mindfulness practice
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take away mindfulness-based strategies and tips to apply in their personal lives and classroom to diminish the negative impact of unchecked stress
Energized Teachers ~ Elevated Teaching
Infusing a little inspiration and positivity into your teacher PD is a must! There are SO many awesome and good things happening in our classrooms every day, but if we are overwhelmed by stress, we won't see them.
Step 1-- re-connect teachers to their purpose and passion for teaching. Step 2-- learn about the mind's tendency to engage in negative rumination and learn practical strategies from the world of positive neuroscience to increase the brain's propensity to take in the good and have a positive perspective.
In this highly experiential session, teacher will explore and engage with:
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identifying their core values and purpose as a teacher
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current research around critical teacher dispositions for effective teaching
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discover how passionate, purposeful teaching is connected to student achievement and improved relationships with students, parents, and peers
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the latest neuroscience around "hardwiring happiness"
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the purpose (and necessity) of positivity and joy in the classroom setting
Teacher will:
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practice 2-3 mindful awareness meditations to cultivate personal centeredness and attentive listening
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take away strategies and tips to apply in their personal and professional lives to hardwire happiness and increase joy and passion in their teaching
The Emotionally Intelligent & Healthy Teacher
Teaching is an emotionally provocative profession. That means emotional burnout is a very real consequence if one lacks the insight, habits of mind, and strategies to cope with the emotional demands of a human service profession.
Anger, frustration, shame, and guilt are common emotional stress reactions of teachers, and it is critical that teachers learn how to understand, process, and let them go. Equally important is learning how to stoke happiness, joy, and positivity in the classroom setting and one's personal life!
In this highly experiential session, we explore the messy inner world of our emotions and demonstrate how mindfulness-based insight and practices can help bring clarity and calm in the midst of strong emotional reactions. Teachers will:
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learn about the nature of teaching as "emotional labor"
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gain awareness of the elements of "compassion fatigue" and how to protect one's self from its onset
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explore their top emotional triggers and hallmarks of emotional exhaustion
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discover the 2 core elements of Emotional Intelligence and how they relate to teaching
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discover how emotions (ours and theirs) impact classroom management and the classroom climate
Teacher will:
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practice 2-3 mindful awareness meditations to manage and diffuse strong emotional reactions
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take away strategies and tips to apply in their personal and professional lives to notice, regulate, and transform negative emotions in opportunities for self-awareness and inner growth
The Resilient Teacher
Research confirms what we know to be true-- resilience is a necessary condition for teacher effectiveness. But what are the hallmarks of resilience? How can resilience be strategically cultivated? What does stress have to do with resilience?
Teachers who have the perspective and practices to transform stress into moments of strength and resilience are not only more effective, they report feeling higher levels of self-efficacy. When teachers feel like they are doing a good job, it fuels a positive resilience/well-being cycle. In this highly experiential session, teachers will:
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learn about the current science and research around teacher resilience
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discover the 2 core elements of teacher effectiveness and longevity
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learn about the 4 essential ingredients to cultivating resilience in the teaching profession
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explore and experience how mindfulness is the perfect tool and strategy for transmuting stress into personal grit and tenacity
Teacher will:
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practice 2-3 mindful awareness meditations to transform stress into resilience and deepen their commitment and motivation to teach
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learn and practice the 3 Step Process for Cultivating Teacher Resilience
Teacher Social and Emotional Self-Care as Service
We intuitively know how important it is to take excellent care of our minds, bodies, and spirits, but as busy teachers, that task can feel impossible and overwhelming. This session invites teachers to go beyond their initial impressions of what teacher social and emotional self-care is and looks like. For teachers, "self-care" is not merely an option for when one has time, rather it is intimately bound up with their professional effectiveness.
In this session, teachers will explore the ways their self-care is intricately ​tied to teaching for social justice, student achievement, AND the mental, emotional, and heart (as in soul) health of a school's most important professional capital: healthy, happy teachers!
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In this session, teachers will:
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learn about the 4 domains of teacher social and emotional self-care
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discover the 2 fundamental elements of teacher effectiveness and longevity
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explore how social and emotional self-care is directly tied to embodying equity-mindedness
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explore the nature of the mind and the top 5 stress producing beliefs of teachers that impede self-care
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learn about the current research on teacher wellbeing and the connection to student social, emotional, and academic achievement
Teacher will:
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practice 2-3 mindful awareness meditations to experience the centering effect it has on the body, mind, and soul (heart)
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create a personal Teaching Wellbeing Manifesto
