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.
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.
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.
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,
The Present Teacher Restoration ProjectTM
The Present Teacher Restoration ProjectTM is an innovative and unique self-paced, online adult SEL and Well-Being professional development offering that focuses on providing our educators, administrators, and school support staff with systematic, research-based best practices in mental health and emotional resilience support for sustainable well-being in the midst of a global pandemic and our collective mission of social justice work.
The Present Teacher Restoration ProjectTM is designed for classroom educators, paraprofessionals, administrators, food service, custodial teams, school nurses, school counselors, and administrative support (and anyone who directly interfaces with students).
We believe educating our youth to be the highest calling and a remarkable privilege.
We also believe that as educators, our being well is our greatest professional asset because our well-being strengthens our relationships to students. Our well-being allows us to give our students what they need to learn--
compassion, trust, and joy!
Our well-being is communal and collective. When we are well, we can share our well-being with our students, peers, and school community.
Experiential Learning
Integrating experiential learning, transformative learning theory, neuroscience, and mindfulness-based practices, teachers and school personnel learn about their own humanity and innate resilience to transform the stress of the profession into opportunities for expanded humanizing dispositions like: critical consciousness, commitment, empathy, and compassion for self and others.
Educators engage a series of (8) 30 minute modules on their own time and at their own pace to:
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explore the origins of healing from toxic stress in the educational setting,
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receive targeted support for managing personal and collective trauma triggered in teaching,
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learn specific mind and body practices that restore a teacher's energy and passion to teach,
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experience the core foundations of Mindfulness, Well-Being, SEL, and Embodied Equity and learn how all these forces of educator wellness intersect,
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experience strategies rooted in neuropsychology, cognitive behavioral therapy, and mindful awareness to re-story stress and uncertainty to bring equilibrium to their mental health, stability in their emotional well-being, and a renewed sense of purpose,
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explore how self-care is a radical act of social justice while learning how teacher joy and well-being are core foundations of embodied equity in the classroom setting,
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create a sustainable SEL and Well-Being practice in both the classroom setting and their personal lives.
Teacher Testimonials
Educators earn
4 "clock hours" of professional learning engagement in this training.
This training was a life saver!
Every week I was waiting for it to practice meditation, remind me of my strengths, and manage my energy in the best way possible to survive and find joy in the middle of a pandemic and distance learning- THANK YOU!!
Minneapolis Public School Educator
Everything I learned in the PTRP can be applied to my teaching and well-being immediately!
I can implement the tools I learned with students, and they would be able to replicate them on their own for their own benefit.
Minneapolis Public School Educator
I loved going through the PTRP modules!
The PTRP modules affirms everything we feel in a day, week, and year. This training gave me practical wellness tools that helped me with my stress levels, and it also addresses one to be self-reflective and honest in one's teaching practice to bring about more inclusiveness and equity.
1st Grade Teacher
I found the series to be calming, centering, and hopeful!
It was really nice to have short modules that I could complete anytime between my on-line teaching sessions and meetings.
Elementary Teacher
Teacher testimonials are taken from our partnership with Hennepin County Public Health to offer The Present Teacher Restoration ProjectTM to every educator, administrator, staff member, and support personnel in all of Hennepin County's 22 school districts and 55 charter and private schools.
For more data on the districts and schools we served and educator testimonials on our partnership with Hennepin County Public Health
Outcomes
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.
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.
Teach teachers how to strategically access their inner resources of calm, resilience, healing, 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.
Core Competencies Cultivated
Course Modules
There are (8) 30 minute modules in this 4 hour training course. This current offering is specifically targeted at meeting the mental, emotional, and social needs of our teachers during these times of toxic social stressors.
Contact Jen for a syllabus that includes detailed module objectives and learning outcomes:
Module 1
Prioritizing Your Well-Being
The Power of Attention, Attitude, and Awareness
Mindfulness Focus: Breath & Body Awareness
Module 2
Banishing Time Stress: The art of managing your energy and not your time
Mindfulness Focus: Mind Awareness
Taming the Toxic Stress Impact: Learning the Art of Metabolizing Stress
Module 3
Mindfulness Focus: Perceptual Awareness
Compassionate Teachers ~ Calm and Centered Students
Module 4
Mindfulness Focus: Mind Awareness
Module 5
Teacher Joy!
Mindfulness Focus: Emotions & Interpersonal Mindfulness
Module 6
Trauma & Teaching: Transforming Teacher Stress into Strength
Mindfulness Focus: Breath Awareness
Module 7
Teacher Restoration AS Social Justice Work
Mindfulness Focus: Intra-personal Mindfulness & Body Awareness
Establishing Your Well-Being Manifesto-- Creating a plan to enact your well-being habits the whole year through!
Module 8
Mindfulness Focus: Body, Mind, and Emotional Awareness
Module Components
Each 30 minute training module engages the intellect, calms the mind, and restores balance to the body.
10 minute training video
5 minute guided audio meditation
10 minute guided gentle yoga practice
5 minute guided "put into your practice" reflection activity
