Primary Teachers, Master Your Mind So You Can Master Your Life

And you’re back for week 3 of the Teacher Refresh Retreat! We are thrilled that you have welcomed us on this journey with you. You are taking steps, that with consistency, will make a drastic impact on your overall life. This week is going to be all about motivation especially as we move through those dreary days the winter can so often bring upon us. So let’s jump in and get you motivated for this second half of the school year!

Teacher Check-In Time

Do you have your journal handy? If not, no worries you can journal at your convenience. The important thing is to make sure you take the time to do it. Don’t cheat yourself. Allow yourself this time. In fact, hopefully you blocked off this time on your schedule to help you commit to making this happen.

So as we check in with you, relax your body. Close your eyes and just allow yourself to breathe and focus on your breath. If thoughts of the day come up, then allow them to come and go, but pull your mind back to your breath. Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, and breathe out for 6 seconds.

Now that you have quieted your mind, reflect on how this past week went. What were your most exciting memories? What were the challenges that you had to seek answers?

Take a minute and consider how you felt about scheduling your time. Did you keep your commitments? Were you able to find more time in your day? As you let go of certain parts of your day (maybe chatting after school with teachers as they pop in), how did you feel? Did you feel accomplished because you were able to squeeze in an extra 20-30 minutes of schoolwork or out of the loop because you missed the chatter among your colleagues? Will you use the The Lesson Plan Toolbox Planner again this week or do you have another system in place?

Remember, as you are checking in with yourself, consider each role you fulfill in your life. 

Take time and just let your thoughts flow.

As you finish your reflection today, be sure to reread your letter from week 1 reminding you about why you wanted to become a primary teacher.

Objective 2: Motivation For You As A Teacher

Hopefully now that you have checked in with yourself, you are feeling a calm about you. It’s important to remember that you are not the same teacher you were yesterday. You are learning and growing in this profession each and every day. The fact is, you are going to have some 5 STAR days that will be amazing, but you’ll also have days where you question everything about this profession. Interestingly enough, most of your days will be somewhere in the middle…and that is A-OK!

As you consider your day in the classroom try thinking in these terms:

1. Here’s what I did that worked well…
2. Here’s what didn’t work for me, but I learned…
3. Look at yourself as a teacher and decide how you will grow just 1% for tomorrow.

Keep in mind as you are reflecting, so often school becomes our everything, but our EVERYTHING is so much more than school. As teachers, we fall into a trap of believing life is a matter of choosing to be a good teacher or a good parent/spouse/daughter. Try considering what option “c” would look like and feel like. Did you know that there is always an option “c”? We get so focused on options “a” and “b” that we rarely consider option “c.” Push yourself to decide how you can be both. 

The first step in creating an option “c” might be giving up the concept that the longer I stay at school, the better teacher I will become. This just simply isn’t true. Perhaps choose one day a week where you stay late, but the other four days leave as close to your contracted time as possible. Once you begin to create your routines and habits with your time, you will be amazed at how much more time you have to yourself.

If you have been around here for a while, then you know our belief in the power of journaling. So much truth, clarity, and resolution can come from the act of journaling. The problem many teachers face that we hear over and over again is that they don’t know what to write and end up writing every minute of their days. So we decided to create a tool that will help our primary teacher friends focus on a specific topic each day and simply write a sentence or two.

Here’s an overview of what The Lesson Plan Tool Wellness Check would look like:

Monday-How do you want to feel this week? How are you going to get there?

Tuesday-What is one thing you would like to see improve? How can you move in that direction?

Wednesday-How are you feeling? How is your week going?

Thursday-What can you do today to prepare for next week? (We want to see you save time on the weekend!)

Friday-You did it! Take time to reflect and journal about your highlight moment(s).

Weekend Vibes: Just write whatever comes to mind!

Whatever you do, just be sure to take time to journal.

Objective 3: Motivating Your Students

We all know this time of year can be difficult to get our students motivated to come to school let alone to participate. So we decided that we needed to share our Top 3 Student Engagement Ideas that should keep your students engaged throughout the week.

1. Movement -It can be so easy to lose track of time and how long our students are sitting, so whenever you can incorporate movement into your day GO FOR IT!
2. Tone - The tone of your voice can completely influence the success of a lesson. So often when students are chatty our inclination is to talk over them, but try bringing a softer, quieter tone and see what happens.
3. Project Based Learning - Nope, we’re not kidding! If you can decide on a project based learning topic and truly dive deep and develop the unit of study, wait until you see the rise in student engagement. When our students are active learners, so much of the behavior issues go to the wayside because they have specific tasks to complete. 

If you are interested in more details and specific examples on our Top 3 Student Engagement Ideas, then be sure to click the link and grab your copy.

Objective 4: Motivation For You As A Person

It’s hard to believe that as teachers we live so much of our lives loving and serving others that we often forget to love and serve ourselves. But answer this, how happy can you be if you aren’t filling all of your cups?

You were made to teach. Even on the hard days, you were made to teach. But here’s what’s awesome: you were also made to be a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, coach. You were put on this Earth to serve a purpose even more important than school. Hard to believe, I know, but it’s true. You are here right now, at this time in history, reading this blog because it is exactly where you are meant to be. 

So what do you do if things aren’t going well at school or at home? Well, hopefully by now you are understanding the power of journaling and searching for the answer within you. If you are not happy with something, then change it. It may be as simple as switching up a seating chart, but it might be more serious such as finding a counselor for a relationship that is in jeopardy. The bottom line is that no matter what, there is always a solution.

Watch how powerful your mind can be with your overall attitude towards life. Let’s try an activity, but do your best to have an open mind. Right now, close your eyes and think about an event in your life where you felt the most confidence you ever experienced. You see, confidence is knowing with certainty without the feelings of stress or fear. So,  what was happening? What did you see or say? What were others around you doing? What were people saying to you? 

Okay, now just sit with this memory for a few moments and feel into it. Now, imagine you had 10x the confidence in your mind. What goals would you set for yourself both at home and at school? What in your life would change? How in the world are you feeling right now with these thoughts?

You guessed it! It’s journal time. Take a few minutes right now and process all of your thoughts that came up. Remember that nobody but you will be seeing this, so be as honest with yourself as possible. 

The last part of this is a bit scary, but it will make all the difference in the world in your life. Figure out a plan to do whatever it is you wrote in your journal. Take that first small step towards coming out of your comfort zone and allowing yourself to shine.

What’s Next?

So hopefully right now you are ready to get out there and crush some goals! Go for it!

We can’t thank you enough for allowing us to come on this journey with you, and know that we are THRILLED to be a part of the ride. You are not the same teacher you were yesterday. Work on improving just 1% each day. By the end of the school year you will be over 100% improved not just as a teacher, but as a whole person. So here’s what’s next:

1. Download The Lesson Plan Toolbox Planner and Wellness Guide
2. Journal just a few sentences each day, until you get into a groove.
3. Decide how you will move forward that 1% towards meeting your goals.
4. Reach out to us on Instagram or email ([email protected]) and let us know how this process is going for you.
5. Be sure to come back next week where we discuss “Calming the Classroom.” 

Did You Know..

Did you know that if you have been enjoying this blog post that you can be getting plenty more tips and guidelines just by joining the  FREE Teacher Refresh Retreat? You can catch up on all of the videos at your convenience. Best of all, you’ll move from feeling anxious and doubting yourself to being in control of your time and schedules. This is our way of thanking primary teachers for all that they do day in and day out.

Oh, and the BONUS resources from primary teacher creators are not only A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, but will save you plenty of time finding what is trending in education right now.

Recent Blogs…

If you missed The Teacher Refresh Retreat for Week 1: Diminish Teacher Anxiety For Heading Back To School in January or Week 2: Helping Teachers To Manage Home/School Schedules then be sure to allow yourself time to catch up. Remember, you can’t serve from an empty cup.

Until next week…

Teach~Relax~Repeat

Lesson Plan Toolbox

https://www.lessonplantoolbox.com/