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,
Present TeacherTM Well-Being Series
VIDEO Trainings
The A,B, and C of Teacher Soul Health
We do not talk nearly enough in teacher prep and professional development about the
soul/ spiritual health of our educators....and there is plenty of research to teach us.
We know a lot from the research about burnout and moral injury in the profession of education, but now it is time to turn our full attention to the ORIGINS of teacher soul health so we can be on the offensive with our mental and emotional well-being.
We became teachers because we felt called to serve, help, heal, and teach, and this calling is our soul's work. If our soul is unwell because of burnout and neglect, we simply cannot do what we came here to do-- influence and inspire our students with contagious passion and positivity that they, too, are here to find what brings them alive and to track that purpose down with perseverance.
Come on back soon to discover the A, the B, and the C of teacher spiritual health.
The research confirms it--
a healthy spirit and soul is your compass through
chaos and unclear times.
We cannot just "think" our way through the unknown anymore. We need to tap into our intuition and inner-intelligence if we want to know how to move forward in ways that serve the collective well-being of ourselves, our peers, and our students (and their families).