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,
Present TeacherTM Training is an innovative and unique professional development program that focuses on the personhood of the teacher.
We believe teachers are worth the investment of professional learning opportunities that are dedicated to their mental, emotional, and spiritual health and well-being.
We believe that creating professional development opportunities for teachers to learn how to metabolize the daily stressors of the profession so they know how to intentionally:
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stoke self-efficacy and stay motivated to teach, mostly during moments when one feels self-doubt and overwhelm;
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forge authentic relationships with students, especially when students exhibit behaviors stemming from stress and trauma;
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protect themselves from compassion fatigue, toxic stress, and secondary-trauma
as a direct investment in their mental, emotional, and soul health.
Since "we teach who we are" (Parker Palmer), teachers need professional learning experiences where they get to EXPLORE and EXPAND who they are; where the "content" or "subject" for the professional development is their very selves.
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Integrating experiential learning, transformative learning theory, neuroscience, and mindfulness-based practices, teachers and school personnel learn about their own humanity and innate resilience & potential to transform the stress of the profession into opportunities for expanded humanizing dispositions like: critical consciousness, commitment, empathy, and compassion for self and others.
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We do this by engaging teachers in experiential learning opportunities where they cultivate increased self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and self-compassion through processing their current stressors or problems as the "portal" to deeper self, situational, and another awareness.
While earning Continuing Education Units (CEUs), teachers learn how to strategically stage-off burnout, process stress productively, be authentic, practice self-compassion, be emotionally resilient, deepen their passion & commitment to teaching, and most importantly, connect with all students.
Our 3 Core Purposes
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Provide teachers with tools, strategies, and experiences rooted in mindful awareness for the deepening of self-awareness, self-compassion, and emotional resilience so that they can routinely adapt to the stressors of the profession in a functional and flexible way.​
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Cultivate the habits of mind and humanizing dispositions to remain calm in chaotic teaching moments, see student behavior through the lens of compassion and curiosity, and leverage stress as opportunities for greater insight and critical consciousness.
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Teach teachers how to strategically access their inner resources of calm, resilience, and positivity for counteracting the onset and manifestation of burnout and emotional fatigue while increasing their innate capacity to actualize happiness, passion, and joy in their professional and personal lives.
Outcomes
Applied Mindfulness-Based Practices
Course Offering Format for School Sites
Present TeacherTM Training ~ CEU Course
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In-depth, on-site 9-20 hr CEU program for up to 75 teachers/paras/staff at your building. (*additional staff added a pro-rated rate)
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After school training sessions customized to your district calendar
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Choose your own delivery format
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1 hour session, ONCE per month (September-May)
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2 - 2.5 hour session, ONCE per month (September-May)
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1 - 2 hour session, TWICE per month (September-December, January-May)
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​OPTIONAL Supplemental Materials and Resources
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Discounted text: Mindfulness for Teachers: Simple Skills for Peace and Productivity in the Classroom by Patricia Jennings.
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