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,
SPPS
Experience Talks
We sure had a great time talking about how these SPPS educational caregivers restore their energy, maintain joy and perspective in the hard times, and actualize their resilience to see stress as opportunities to feel more connected with their calling and less burnt out.
Rosa Miyashiro Matsumoto -- LEAP HS Counselor
In this Experience Talk about Module 8-- Establishing Your Well-Being Manifesto, Rosa shares her practices and strategies to leave her work day feeling "tired, but happy" vs. tired and burnt out. My new motto!
Rosa shares truly brilliant insights that are so grounding and practical, you will be inspired to start them today.
Jade Fischer -- Como Elementary Music Therapist
In this Experience Talk about Module 4-- Teacher Self-Compassion, Jade poignantly describes how perfectionism and focusing on the "product" (especially in education) becomes problematic for compassion for the self.
Jade shares with how she practices the healing balm of self-compassion by focusing her full attention on the process....
Haley Ehleringer -- Battle Creek Elementary Counselor
"As adults we have a tendency to want to fix things but often kids, like adults, just need someone to witness them. I like to start from a place of being together..."
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In this Experience Talk about Module 1-- Prioritizing Your Well-Being, Haley reminds us of that critical awareness to help us stave off burnout -- how to hold spaces of witnessing for others so we don't fall into the "I gotta fix it for them" trap.
Juli Montgomery-Riess -- Office of College Education & Readiness Lead Counselor
In this Experience Talk about Module 2-- Banishing Time Stress, Juli just nails it!! I sat back to take notes, because never have I heard an educational caregiver describe so articulately how to manage time stress and the "urgent care" demands that chronically come our way.
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Juli says she provides care like a pediatrician vs. an urgent care doctor in the school setting... Wow.