August 14, 2021August 14, 2021 Linda Markley

Be Well, Do Well

Spirit of teaching

As the new school year is about to begin across the USA and even across the world, there is an underlying anxious tone permeating the very essence of all teachers, students, parents, admin, staff, etc.

There are so many traumas to heal from last year in a pandemic. In fact, I was talking to a teacher the other day and asked “when do you go back to school?” and the reply was “oh goodness, I don’t even want to think about it let alone talk about it because I am still HEALING.”

I thought “WOW!” The trauma from last year is still going to need some time, attention, intention, nurturing and yes, healing.

We can’t just pretend that last year didn’t happen.

We can’t just ignore everything that happened and not try to learn from all the experiences, even the bad ones.

We can’t start the new year from a place of deficit, perceived “learning loss” (as it is being referred to in the media) and being behind…kind of a mindset of it’s all over before it begins because we can never catch up.

We can’t start letting all the woulda-coulda-shoulda’s reign supreme in our minds and echo through our classrooms and into the minds and hearts of our students and others.

We need to BE WELL and we need to DO WELL.

There are many resources on www.spiritofteaching.org that can help you to be well and do well.

Spirit of Teaching and Teacher Tales have been doing a series of podcasts that highlight mental health and well being.

 There is a great deal of awareness being raised about mental health., especially during the past year and a half of a pandemic.

What is mental health exactly?  

mentalhealth.gov defines mental health in these terms:

“Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.”

I think that a lot of what we talk about and share in The Spirit of Teaching is about mental health, not just for teachers, but really for any human being trying to navigate a life that is full of emotional, psychological and social challenges.

In teaching, these emotional, psychological and social challenges are just more intense than for most people. This certainly accounts for the sharp rise in teachers leaving the profession, teachers seeking therapy and counseling and teachers who are frequenting doctors with a multitude of stress-related “illnesses”.

It is important for all of us to “be well and do well”.  In order to do this, we have to take care of our emotional, psychological and social needs.

As teachers, we especially tend to focus on all of the exterior demands that are being placed on us by others (students, parents, colleagues, administrators, society in general) that we forget to tap into our own needs.

We are so busy and overwhelmed tending to the emotional, psychological and social needs of others that we tend to let our own needs get buried or worse yet, burned out. 

And that is when we begin to really struggle with our mental health. We have all been there, and it is not a fun place to be. It is also not a place where we can “be well and do well”.

Perhaps some proactive questions for your mental health daily should be:

1. What do I need today emotionally in order to protect, support and nurture my mental health?

     (in other words, how do I want to feel?)

2. What do I need today psychologically in order to protect, support and nurture my mental health?

      (in other words, how do I want to manage my thoughts?)

3. What do I need today socially in order to protect, support and nurture my mental health?  

      (in other words, what and who supports me rather than drains me?)

 

You can also use the SPIRIT lessons found here.

We are all on this mental health journey together. There are choices in every moment.

There are resources, people, organizations that support us.

 

Love note to teachers:

Add the three questions above to your daily lesson plans and reflection. See how it transforms you and your teaching (and life) experiences.

Share the Sunday Spirit Spark Newsletter, Teacher Tales podcast and Spirit of Teaching resources with other teachers.

If you are willing to share a testimonial of how The Spirit of Teaching has helped you and/or others, please send me an email at thespiritofteaching@gmail.com 

You can just let me know how it has helped you so that I can use this feedback to inform my vision and future planning for The Spirit of Teaching. If you are willing for your testimonial to be shared on the website, please let me know as well.

Also, check out these TEDx videos offered by Edutopia just for teachers to help start the new year well.