Are Mindless Habits Contributing to Working Longer Hours?
Getting distracted at school can cause us to lose focus. This has a negative impact on our ability to get things done and can result in us spending longer hours at school. Whilst distractions such as interruptions, are beyond our control, some distractions come from mindless habits that are sabotaging our productivity and often we repeat them instinctively. The first step to breaking a habit that isn’t helping us, is to identify it. Here are some of the most common mindless habits to watch out for, according to Monica Torres in the Huntington Post. You constantly check your phone when there is a lull. We often operate at such a frantic pace that any sort of lull in our day…
Is It Good Or Bad
As humans, we have a tendency to categorise things as either good or bad. This cognitive bias is deeply ingrained in us and affects our daily lives in various ways. We tend to judge events, experiences and people based on this binary thinking, which can be limiting and counterproductive. It is not helpful to judge situations as good or bad as this can affect our mental and emotional wellbeing. Judging situations as good or bad can create unnecessary stress and anxiety. When we label a situation as bad, we tend to focus on the negative aspects of it and ruminate over it. This can lead to feelings of hopelessness, helplessness and despair, which can affect our mental health. On the…
What Makes Us Happy?
What does HAPPINESS mean to you? Would more money make you happier? … more job satisfaction? … more family time? … a new car? … more travel opportunities? What would make you happier? Social and brain scientists have been able to ascertain the things that make us happy – but to get there we need to stop our quest for status and stop buying unnecessary possessions. Scientists at the University of Wisconsin have used CT scans to identify the most active part of the brain during various moods. The most active part of the brain when we are distressed are the amygdala and the right frontal cortex. However, when we are in a positive mood those areas of the brain…
Promoting Resilience in the Teaching Profession
Teachers and other staff who work in schools are faced with many challenges on a daily basis. From dealing with difficult students and parents, to managing a heavy workload and meeting high expectations. It can be easy to become overwhelmed. Resilience, the ability to bounce back from adversity, is a critical skill to develop. One way to promote resilience is through self-care. This includes taking care of your physical, emotional and mental well-being. This may mean setting aside time each day for exercise, eating well, getting enough sleep and practicing relaxation techniques such as meditation, yoga or deep breathing to slow our minds. It’s also important to make time for activities you enjoy, such as reading, spending time with friends…
Working with Helicopter Parents
Dealing with overprotective parents can be challenging. While it is understandable that parents want to ensure the safety and well-being of their children, it can sometimes lead to micromanagement and overprotective parenting that has become known as helicopter parenting. According to author Hara Estroff Marano, “Today’s parents are not just helicopter parents…they are jet-powered turbo attack models.” Here are some tips on how to handle such parents. Set clear boundaries: As a teacher, it is important to establish boundaries with parents early on. Clearly communicate what your expectations are for parent-teacher communication and involvement in the classroom. This includes advising them of the best way to contact you, setting reasonable expectations about response times and specifying when it is appropriate…
Perfectionism – What’s it costing you?
A large number of staff who work in schools are parents. Working parents today (especially mums) feel enormous pressure to achieve: happy and contented children ✓ amazing relationships ✓ well-nourished family ✓ clean and tidy home ✓ well cared for extended family ✓ ‘Awesome’ kids’ parties ✓ fit, healthy, vibrant and immaculately dressed ✓ gorgeous home ✓ financial security ✓ and the list is endless. Trying to keep all these balls in the air ‘perfectly’ all the time is contributing to the epidemic of stress, anxiety and depression in high functioning parents. What’s so great about being ‘perfect’? It hides the fear. Fear of uncertainty. Brene Brown says that we perfect ourselves and our children to avoid shame or blame,…
Is It Time to Declutter?
Over the years, I, like many teachers, have collected a lot of “stuff”. I’m not sure if it is because budgets are tight and we are frugal or we always think we might be able to reuse that resource again “someday” but many teachers are loathe to throw things away. I recently culled a drawer in my filing cabinet and threw away spirit duplicator masters that I had saved from my beginning teacher days. (If you don’t know what a spirit duplicator is – google it!) This hoarding can contribute to cluttered classrooms. The environment in which we work can have a significant impact on our productivity, efficiency and overall well-being. This is especially true in the case of classrooms,…
The Impact of Positive Relationships
Staff in schools spend a significant portion of their time interacting with students, colleagues and parents. The relationships you have with these individuals has a major impact on your well-being and your ability to perform your job effectively. Positive relationships can provide support, encouragement and most importantly, a sense of belonging. These traits contribute to better mental and emotional health. On the other hand, negative relationships are stressful, draining and can lead to burnout. One of the most important ways to cultivate positive relationships is through effective communication. This starts with actively listening to others. Often we are so busy in schools, rushing from one class to another, or one issue to the next, that we can be guilty of…
7 Day Sleep Prescription
Like eating, drinking and breathing, we need to sleep to survive. Sleep is just as important to our health, as diet and exercise. It is just as important in supporting life as food, water and oxygen. You can’t be at your best if you aren’t sleeping well. Unfortunately, many aspects of modern life work against us achieving quality sleep. Improving our sleep can lead to improvements in many other aspects of our life, including how we feel, what we eat, how we learn and how we react to others. Most of us realise the importance of getting a good night’s sleep however, the anxiety that we experience in trying to get to sleep makes the situation worse. In Dr Aric…
Do You Look After Yourself?
Recently I was suffering from “man flu”. Men are always the last to know that they have it. Luckily my gorgeous wife was able to point it out to me. Apparently, “man flu” is when a man has a slight cold but they think it is the end of the world! Now, I am not a believer in “soldiering on”. I believe that when my body is ill I need to rest and let it get better. Consequently, I cancelled several work and social appointments. Now, I could have gone along but it was just not worth it. There was a slight chance I could have infected the person I was meeting (and depending on their air-conditioning system, half of the…
The Power of Keeping your Cool
Many of us have done it. After losing patience, we’ve become a bit snappy with a room full of students or raised our voices a level or two higher than we should have. It happens. The longer you teach, the more probable an incidence (or two) becomes. Responsive, Not Reactive Once a teacher loses it with a class or student, it takes some time to rebuild that feeling of safety and trust within those four walls, so it’s wise to avoid heading in that direction. If you are a new teacher, it’s important to develop good habits around routinely using a calm and appropriate voice level with your students. (We’ve all heard the explosive teacher down the hall in another…
7 Types of Difficult People
One of the challenges of working in schools is that we work with people. Each of us has people who we find difficult to deal with, whether they are fellow staff members, parents or students. Often they frustrate or annoy us! By identifying what makes their behaviour challenging, we can implement strategies to assist us in responding. Seven types of difficult people have been outlined with suggestions on how to respond to their typical traits. You may find you recognise elements of your difficult person’s behaviour in one or more types. After reflecting on this information try to identify specific strategies to deal with the people you find difficult. However, it is important to remember you cannot change anybody else’s…