Teachers' Wellness Path

New Website

2010-10-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

www.teachingwellbeing.com

It's taken a while to find my voice but I've found it. It's somewhat ironic that when I was teaching and burning out and would have had so much to say I had no blog. I'm finding, as I work in wellness more, that so much of what we stress about as teachers isn't always about our jobs, but it's the nature of our jobs that doesn't easily allow us to have the space to work out the other aspects of our lives. Stress is personal.

I'd like to invite a space for healing, sometimes it's about teaching stress, sometimes it's about life - but it is always connected. We are one person - sometimes we're a teacher, sometimes a friend, sometimes a daughter, a lover, a consumer, a leader, a follower, a sister, a mother, an auntie, a stranger - we area all those things and more - and we can't just shut ourselves off as we move from one role to the other. Trying to write about specific teaching stress is sometimes limiting - so I'm changing how I'm going to write - and where I'm going to write.

On my new site I'll continue and expand the journey of moving away from stress and towards wellbeing. I'll see you there. :)

http://www.teachingwellbeing.com/

Self-acceptance and stress

2010-08-27T19:49:00.000-07:00

Self-acceptance is not complacency.Wanting better for ourselves, aspiring to move from stress to well-being and accepting our imperfections are not mutually exclusive states of mind.

Of course, strong, educated, confident people find a way to live amongst societal pressures and uphold their own self-worth. Empowered, conscious living requires us to actively create the life we aspire to. Most of what is presented to us as the ‘ideal’ way to live requires us to uphold images and behaviours that are dysfunctional. These images need to be interrogated so we are clear as to what we are aspiring to.

It is important to evaluate our shortcomings, but within a larger picture of what we are trying to accomplish. Life is not only about achieving our aspirations and getting "a bit better everyday". It is navigating the highs and lows of the road of aspiration.

There are times on the path to go forward, and there are times to stop and rest. Wisdom and self-reflection allow you to discern that for yourself. Our quest to "do a bit better everyday" can't be done in the same paradigm that drives workaholicism, overwhelm and stress.

Admitting to having days where everything falls apart and we don’t reach the summit we were aiming for is not begrudging those who can handle adversity better than us or who are better off. It is pointless to compare ourselves to others because the only one who is going to live your life is you. Finding within ourselves some humility and gentleness to accept that not everyday is going to be heroic, is not wallowing in self-pity -- it's accepting the moment for what it is in that space of time.

If we can’t admit to having an “off” day without being told we might be wallowing in self-pity or begrudging others their wellbeing, we are setting up for ourselves an impossible standard of living and wellbeing to aspire to.

Gladwell Off the Mark on Class Size

2010-06-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Outliers and the Tipping Point author, Malcolm Gladwell, gave the keynote address at the Imagining Ontario's Future Conference. He's a brilliant writer and thinker - but if he wants to speak on K-12 education he should spend some time in a classroom. Preferably a class of 35 Grade 7s in a portable resourced and designed for 25, in the unaircondiditoned heat of a sweltering Ontario June day.

He caused a bit of a stir in education circles. He said that reducing class size was pursing a dead end - what mattered most was improving the quality of teachers.

Now I agree that quality teachers are key to having a good educational experience, but what kind of quality education can an individual deliver in an over-filled, under-resourced classroom?

Not surprisingly, the Toronto Star's Saturday's paper on May 16 included many letters from incensed teachers.

I was one of them. Here's what I wrote:

Advice to Mr. Gladwell: stick to what you know. Teaching K-12 is not like speaking to a university lecture hall full of grown-ups. Teachers negotiate diverse levels of academic ability, facility in English, behavioural tendencies, and home-environment influences in classes of children from ages 4-18. In his book, Outliers, Mr. Gladwell states it takes 10,000 hours to be an expert in any field. I have my 10,000 hours in teaching K-12; he has about 10,000 to go.

No Air-Brushing Please!

2010-04-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had plans to do 12 sun salutations when I woke up, go to work, come home and go for a walk to enjoy the warm, sunny day. That would be followed by making dinner and lunch for tomorrow, call a friend to make plans, prepare a workshop, prepare some applications for courses, update this blog, and about 6 other items on my ever-growing to-do list, finished of with a half hour of yoga.

I managed to wake up, go to work, take a short walk, eat dinner, call a friend (who wasn't even home - so that cut down on time used up!) and research some applications. I felt frazzled - because I hadn't accomplished anything that I felt I really needed to. Then I felt cruddy - because I hadn't completed my list. Then I felt guilty - because I don't even have toddlers to care for and I still couldn't get much done so early in the week. Then I felt cruddy again - because if I really were a superwoman I'd have toddlers - or atleast a cat.

But I did manage to sit in meditation for 5 short minutes - just long enough to quell the growing anxiety in my chest. In that quiet, I asked myself: who am I competing with that I have this anxiety about having it all together?

We are fed this socially air-brushed ideal of what our daily life should look like. We should all be happily married, economically secure, accomplishing everything in an organized and optimized fashion, eathing perfectly balanced meals, and filling our day with perfectly balanced activities and goals, and of course looking quite perfect as well with no interruptions, dramas, or emotional reactions to anything or anyone.

If that's not the photo of our daily life, we must be doing something wrong. Or so we're led to believe.

Real people develop real character and life experience for the very reason that their life isn't airbrushed. It's brushing up against imperfection that gives us our wisdom, strength, compassion, stories and laugh lines.

Give yourself a break. You don't have to do everything, and you don't have to do it perfectly. No one is watching. No one is going to evalute you. Do the work that takes care of you and those you have in your care. The rest of the to-do list will get done - you know it will. Commit to not doing it with anxiety. Every morning and evening I light a candle, do some relaxing breaths, remember what is important to me, what I'd like to accomplish, what I need and what I am grateful for. Sometimes all I can manage is 2 minutes, sometimes I have time for a 30 minute meditation. The point is that it calms my centre, refocuses me on what is important and what isn't. The calm beginning and end to my day assures me that everything will be ok, that I'm doing fine.

In the fashion world air-brushing has been exposed for the unrealistic expectation-maker that it is. Jessica Simpson is celebrated on the cover of this issue of Marie-Claire sans make-up or retouching. We should keep in mind to not try to live up to air-brushed expectations of daily living as well.

What's Your Key?

2010-02-17T15:20:00.001-08:00

I wonder if I would have read anything on this blog and considered it helpful when I was at my stressed-out-teacher worst?

Back then I’m not even sure I knew I was stressed out. I think I assumed I was fine.

I mean – I felt stress – all the telltale signs of it – but it never occurred to me to see that as something negative even though it felt negative. I was just doing the daily grind of what every teacher does, flavoured by my own teaching ideals. I just assumed since I loved being a teacher this must just be how it was supposed to feel. It never occurred to me to question the job itself and how it’s done. ‘That’s just how teaching is’ is the message I heard.

In June – after the bulk of the year is done, reporting is done and you’re basically just holding the kids at bay until the holidays – I’d have a giant crying meltdown once I got home. I’d always assumed this was normal. Until I realized it happened every June. After my fourth June, it also happened at the end of August – right when you’re supposed to be refreshed and enthusiastic to start another year.

That’s when I knew I was stressed out. Stress wasn’t the key – unhappiness was.

It was the key that unlocked the door or my denial and placed me on a path to wellness.

Everyone has their key. My friend got a big tumour (luckily benign) - that was her key.

Until teaching becomes a profession where teacher wellness is approached proactively, rather than reactively; until unreasonable workload is considered a problem and not a norm – we need to be on the lookout for our key and open the door for ourselves to wellbeing.

Keeping Busy?

2009-12-09T19:23:00.000-08:00

Are you keeping busy?

A couple of people asked me this recently - a part of a long-time-no-see kind of greeting.

My automatic response was: I'm busier than I need to be.

I wasn't being entirely honest. Ok - not at all honest, actually. The truth is I haven't been busy lately. Work has slowed to a comfortable pace and I'm enjoying my time just.. enjoying things, taking things slow. What was it that kept me from answering honestly? It was like some subliminal vibe informing me that the appropriate response is: Yes, I've been keeping busy.

What is it with our society? How did BUSY become a vituous quality worthy of a friendly greeting? If I'm not "keeping busy" then what is the image being projected upon me? That I'm unprofessional? Unintelligent? Spoiled for having time on my hands? Sloth-like?

I'm not trying to make a big issue out of a small well-meaning comment by friends. It just made me realize that our society in general seems to have an obsession with BUSYness? Are we afraid the BUSYness gods are going to come raging at us and give us a good talking-to about being slackers! Yikes! Can't you be working at what is important and living life without being busy? How can we ever discover peace and create a life where stress doesn't cause negative anxiety and resentment if BUSYness holds such a prominent place in our psyches?

It haunts my psyche too. I'd like to exorcise it! I don't want to be busy. I'd like to be purposeful. I'd like to do what I need to do, choose to do, want to do with my time. The hours in the day are too precious to waste on being busy.

Fines for Detentions?

2009-11-20T16:52:00.000-08:00

Student behaviour can be the most challenging and stressful aspect of our job. A New Jersey school district has proposed fining parents for their kid's detentions.

http://wcbstv.com/watercooler/paying.for.detention.2.1323136.html

I chuckled at this at first, maybe because it's a Friday in dreary November and thought - great what if we could outsource our marking too!

Then I thought... how many times have you given detention to the same student over and over even after phone calls home and trying to work out a behaviour plan? Causes of consistently inappropriate behaviour usually run deep and are complex and I'm not sure if a fine would be a solution. On the other hand, sadly, an impact on a person's wallet might have more weight than a face-to-face meeting with a teacher.

Teachers often say that they need to spend more of their time disciplining than teaching. That reality should concern everyone, regardless of how you feel about the suggestion in the article.

Teaching is becoming expensive for teachers when there’s no budget

2009-11-15T14:11:00.000-08:00

“Teaching is becoming expensive for teachers when there’s no budget” read my Facebook friend’s wall post. He was buying an adaptor cable to show YouTube clips from his I-pod on a TV. I thought that’s great – it’s cheaper than DVDs and you have it for your own use too. But then someone posted that they were contemplating buying a video projector because the school couldn’t afford one.

Since I like to have money to do things like... pay my bills – I flung myself into this debate. I posted: “I'd never spend so much for school unless I was being directly compensated. It's time districts/ministries started valuing the work we do rather than assume we are going to sacrificingly make up for the inadequacies of a system that undervalues its teachers not to mention students”

People on-line did not like that.

To paraphrase the next 5 posts: “We shouldn’t need to pay out of pocket but we do it because it’s good for the kids. If you don’t get what you think is needed students suffer because you can’t do the best possible job. Unfortunately it’s part of the job, but teachers who spend on their classroom take pride in having quality materials for students and parents appreciate it.”

I doubt you’d find a doctor bringing in her own personal supply of gauze, disinfectant and syringes for her shift in the emergency ward - in addition to the defibrillator she bought yesterday since the hospital didn’t have enough. How is it any less ridiculous when teachers do it?

It’s for the kids. I’ve said it before. I’m sure you have too. We’re not heartless – we’re teachers! But before we wax sentimental about why we went into teaching let’s ask a critical question. When we say “it’s for the kids” – which kids are we talking about?

Is it the kids of the teacher who has the economic and social positioning to be able to essentially donate her money (and often time) for her students? What about the kids of the teacher who can’t? Are we saying that such a teacher doesn’t take pride in having quality materials for her students? That her students should settle for an inadequately funded classroom? Even if she can afford it – should she?

While we are fortunate to have autonomy in our classrooms they are not “our” classrooms. The classroom and teacher are embedded within a larger system tied to social, political and economic realities. That system has a mandate – to educate the future of the province. It is not like donating your time or money to a non-profit which does good works with kids. The ministry is not a charity. When we take it upon ourselves to make up for the inadequacies of the system, we enable it to get away with not fulfilling its mandate.

This article originally appeared in the BCTF 'Teacher Magazine': http://www.bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/Publications/TeacherNewsmag/archive/2009-2010/2009-11/index.pdf

Sweating the “Small Stuff”, the large stuff and everything in between

2009-11-13T20:14:00.000-08:00

Who hasn’t been agitated that they’ve dropped the ball on something? Who hasn't been too hard on themselves? I think this is a common trait of conscientious people. And conscientiousness is a trait of teachers in general.

Let’s face it - it’s rare that we make the kinds of errors that have profound adverse effects. Why are we so hard on ourselves? The world likely won’t come to an end because some error you’ve made. Why hold ourselves to a standard of perfection that doesn’t leave room for our human failings?

Someone no doubt will accuse me of spiraling down the slippery slope of laziness. Tell people to be easy on themselves for forgetting to return a phone call and before long they’ll be amputating the wrong limb in surgery!

That’s not dropping the ball.
That’s negligence, incompetence, systemic organizational dysfunction.
There’s a difference.

I bet that if you look back at ‘dropping the ball’ episodes in your life they were rarely of an earth shattering magnitude. When it comes to things of importance, most of us are on the ball! What many of us stress over are the inconvenient events that can be made-up for with a simple plan of action and an apology, forgiven with a bit of understanding, or taken as a lesson and moving on.

I’m not sure if it’s that we “sweat the small stuff” or that we don’t clearly differentiate between what small stuff is and what important stuff is. Failing to read a memo clearly is dropping the ball and nothing to beat yourself up about. Never reading a memo because you just can’t be bothered is a problem.

If we never dropped the ball we’d never get a chance to kick it…and honestly a good swift kick at an inanimate object can be a good de-stressor!

People just don't think we're stressed!

2009-11-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

I recently took part in a business networking forum that involved entrepreneurs from various fields. I mentioned the work I do in teacher development around stress managment and wellness. The event coordinator gave me this look - which basically said - get serious. "In a group like this," she gestured to the business people and continued in a snooty tone, "you'd have a hard time selling that to anyone".

Luckily 10 years of teaching middle school have trained me well in quick, snappy responses to obnoxious comments. I took on my best don't-mess-with-the-teacher voice. "There is no one in the education industry who is unaware of the major problem of teacher stress". Then I rattled off statistics - 43% of teacher rehabiliation cases are psychological in nature mostly due to stress, one third of teachers quit the profession within 5 years in Canada, and just to throw higher education into my barrage of we-are-stressed defense, I sited OISE-UT's and the Ontario government's recent work in teacher induction, mentoring and renewal as a way to combat career burnout.

My selling style must be good, because in the ensuing discussion I won alot of support - including from the coordinator, who was looking sheepish - but it got me thinking: what are we not communicating as teachers?

The details of what we do for a living, the realities of what we face need to be known out there in the world beyond the school walls. Is it acceptable to you that your work is seen as inferior? Easy? Without substantial value?

Most teachers develop stress from being put in the unenviable position of having a personal commitment to providing top quality compassionate and educational service to a vulnerable popuation without quality funding to be able to implement it adequately. The result is taking it upon ourselves to make up for the inadequecies of the system.

Who is responsible for this communication? Teachers, administrators, parent advisory councils, unions, school districts? It should be all of us. We need to sell people who are not in education on the value of what we do and be clear on what it is exactly that we do! Only then will our needs be understood and met. It's time to get out there and get networking.

Pay Yourself First!

2009-09-14T16:35:00.000-07:00

Back when I got my first fulltime teaching job, my mom gave me some good business advice. She said before you pay your bills and rent – pay yourself. Take a percentage of your money and put it away in savings. If you don’t, by the time you get around to paying everyone else you won’t have much of your hard earned money left for yourself. Good advice.
I realized that in teaching – time is as valuable as money. Are we giving ourselves a first cut of the time for which so many other things are competing?
The first week back in now done and teachers are moving into the second week. The most common comments I’m seeing on teacher friends’ Facebook wall’s are: “I don’t have time”. I hesitate to even give any suggestions to bring serenity back because I can hear the refrain – well that’s nice – but I don’t have time - didn’t you hear me?!
Ok – so I’ll just ask this: what is it you’d like to have time for?
The clock keep running no matter how busy we are. There is always time. There is also always choice. Choose what you do, how much you do and when you do it – without apology.
“I don’t have time” is a feeling. Feelings can fuel our beliefs. Our beliefs can fuel what we experience. What do you want time for? Now create a space for it. Take control of your time by managing it through choice.
Your teaching is a gift you give to others. When you buy someone a gift, you decide how much you are going to spend on it – you don’t just hand them your credit card and tell them to have fun! Time is the currency of how you express your values and needs – for your work and for yourself. Decide what you want and need time for – and don’t forget to pay yourself first.

Wellness as Power

2009-09-01T17:49:00.000-07:00

Why use Teachers' Wellness Path as a title? It’s not to say that the journey is long and arduous, but it's also not to say that the key to wellness is in some magic pill that does the job for you. We’ve heard the axiom “there’s no way to happiness, happiness is the way” in the same light: There’s no path to wellness, wellness is the path. It is more than that – wellness is you walking on the path.

If wellbeing and wellness is seen as the destination, the road to get there might seem so long and full of obstacles you quit before you really get anywhere– and who wants that? Nobody.

On the other hand, there may be many strategies, ideas and practices to enhance your wellbeing scattered along the path – but if wellness is your destination, you may be so determined to get there you don’t take the time to stop and try them.

Wellness has to be the path you walk. Every step you take is a commitment to and enhancement of your wellbeing. With that mindful approach you won’t miss the helpful strategies, or ignore them because you’re rushing for the stress-free destination. The mental commitment that wellness is a path will inform all the actions and choices you make as you walk along it.

A magic pill is a nice idea but it takes the power away from you. You walking your wellness path is reclaiming your birthright to be well.

PVC-Free School Supplies

2009-08-24T16:50:00.000-07:00

PVCs adversely affect human health (developmental disorders being only one example) - yet they are commonly found in many school supplies. What kind of supplies? Most commonly binders but that's not all. PVC is basically vinyl. Many polyvinyl chloride products contain phthalates - which have been limited in certain children's wares (like baby bottles) but not in school supplies.

Lessening the total toxic load in which we are all immersed (and if you are living, breathing, eating or drinking on this planet - you are immersed in the toxic sludge that is choking the life out of our life-giving Earth) is always a prudent step towards being well.

For detailed information, Please see:

http://www.environmentaldefence.ca/reports/PVC_free_2009.html

Are We In-Tune With Ourselves?

2009-08-22T15:20:00.000-07:00

Feeling frequently exhausted, irritated, and resentful of not having enough time to do all we want and need are signs we are out-of-tune with ourselves. These feelings are all too common an experience in teaching. Teaching shouldn’t make you unwell. Yet this seems to be considered a normal, if unfortunate, aspect of being a teacher. It can be different.

If we want things to be different we need to be willing to do things differently. Outside of acute situations (like illness, death, separations and major upheavals) most stressors are the proverbial straws that break the camel’s back (report cards, paperwork, collegial relations, student concerns, home and family issues, finances). It’s often our pattern of interaction with and response to these minor stressors that keeps us in grooves where we make the same choices again and again. We may not realize what these patterns and beliefs are or how we acquired them, but they are our personal paradigm. If our patterns and beliefs are making us unwell, we need to shift the paradigm.

Progressive spiritual teacher, Eckhart Tolle says our life is not our life situation. We often confuse the two. Our life is the core of who we are. It’s the unshakable rock that sits serenely, confidently knowing everything is as it should be and will be ok, while our life situation (that is the positive and negative roles we play, events, situations, acquired beliefs, goals) often showers down and obscures it. If our life is like a house, then our life situation is often like the clutter cramming our closets, drawers and basements. Clearing out the trash will help us make better use of our house. We need to discern what is trash and what is not.

To do this we need to take stock of what we do. Time management is a lot like money management. You can spend $500 when you only have $100 in the bank, but you incur debt. Likewise you can schedule more in a day than there are hours to complete it, but that too is incurring debt. You are salaried for an approximate 40 hour work week. Budget your time to work within that frame. Whatever that doesn’t fit ask yourself if it’s worth going into debt for?

Looking at our motivations helps make the shift. What am I doing? Why am I doing it? Aware of our motivations, we can make conscious choices about what we do and how we do it. We begin to master our work so it serves us and not the other way around. Our beliefs and patterns begin to change. When we consciously choose our actions, we empower ourselves to be able to respond to stressors in ways that affirm our wellbeing.

This inner space will alert us to what is out-of-tune in our lives and how to make adjustments to rectify that. Rest in this space: it's from this space the courage and conviction to create change comes.

What We Make

2009-08-21T18:13:00.000-07:00

I love this clip of slam poet Taylor Mali on What Teachers Make

I think that a big part of stress for teachers comes from not being adequately valued by society. It shouldn't matter what other people think, but if you're regularly disparaged it can be a real drain. I won't go into the details of what the general public goes on about because if you are a teacher you know full well the underhanded comments that come your way.

This YouTube clip should cheer you up.

You know - I love how people say "It must be nice to have the whole summer off!" Little do they know that you aren't actually paid for those two months. And in those two months most teachers are taking various upgrading course work. Course work that we pay for out of pocket. I laughed when someone (not a teacher) asked if my district would pay for my Masters, the way their work paid for their MBA. Well we can dream.

But my favourite response to the summer-off thing is: "Yes it is. Your major was science/business/math? Schools are often looking for people with those qualifications. You should consider becoming a teacher."

The most common response from those people: SILENCE.

Master Chefs of Stone Soup

2009-08-20T22:47:00.000-07:00

Perhaps this has been you.

Your time is split between the gym and a classroom that is used by an English class in the morning session. You could come in and prep the science, but with no break in those 3 hours (because at recess you have to supervise) you will not be able to prep the art class except in the planning corner of your mind. The class is doing paper mosaic but there’s nothing to put the glue into. You didn’t buy eggs this week so no egg cartons as glue cups.Somehow it works. After clean up it’s off to the gym.

You’d think a game of basketball might entertain kids. No you have to be a human version of the newest Nintendo game system. You must become a club med activity leader with an encyclopedic knowledge of rules of sports you’ve never played, kids games, team captain, coach, referee, first aid attendant, and personal counselor to the dramas that are bound to ensue. If you think workplace politics and drama are hot – don’t even venture into the intricacies of the human dynamics of 11 year olds! But that’s just for 45 minutes – now it’s time to do science.

Even though some wrote it down, not everyone comes prepared for today’s science experiment. You anticipate this so you’ve scavenged the neighborhood recycling boxes and found glass bottles for each of your 30 students so they can watch their balloon inflate over a bottle of baking soda and vinegar. It all comes together; learning will take place and so will fun.

As a first year teacher I would have felt energized by the effort of pulling this off, warmed and motivated by the cheers of kids during PE, their ooh and aahs as their balloons seem to magically inflate, amazed at the miracle of the delicate web of energy that I facilitated for 30 souls to have fun, walk respectfully through the halls, share limited resources and still make it work. I’d have felt that this was the best job in the world, that I was being paid to have fun. I felt I was a blazing crusader for the love of learning in managing to make something out of almost nothing. A Master Chef of stone soup.

But I’ve been doing this for 10 years in various capacities and the glow is starting to wear off. It makes me angry. We repeat the mantra that we go this extra mile “for the kids”, but the reality is the system doesn’t really care about the kids. I think that education systems can do better than assuming their teachers are the magical hero characters in a fairy tale. Imagine what we could accomplish if we were given ample time and resources to do our craft. Not to mention what it would do for our sense of professionalism. The difference between me 10 years ago and now is that now I speak up about it. I’m no longer infatuated with the job, I love and respect it enough to be able to point out its faults.