Module "i": Wellbeing

Personal Wellbeing
Strategies I have for taking care of myself.
 Take time out for yourself
 Ensure you eat healthy
 Make time to exercise
 Make sure you have time to sleep
 Go spend time with friends and family

My thoughts on "“I am feeling so stressed out …”"

 Sit down and write out a list of things that need to be done
 Prioritise the list
 Sleep earlier and get up early to work on things that must be done
 Cut down on coffee and sugar
 Talk to family members about why you are so stressed

My top 3 strategies for maintaining my personal wellbeing.

 Get a reasonable amount of sleep
 Eat healthy and exercise
 Talk to family and friends

Tips
 "Monitor your stress levels and when you notice yourself feeling tense, do something about it,
like exercise or talk to a friend."
 "Be proactive rather than reactive. Know what causes you to feel stressed and do what you can
to prevent it occurring."
 "Prioritise – if you are stressed about the amount of work you need to do, make a list of priorities
and attend to the top priorities first."
 "Avoid unhealthy eating and drinking habits as these can put more stress on your body."
 "Look after yourself physically through: A healthy diet
Start the day with a healthy breakfast and prepare nourishing snacks and meals for the school
day.
Eat something nutritious at recess and lunch time and have an after school snack to avoid the
predinner cravings.
Stay hydrated throughout the day to keep up your energy for the hard work of teaching.
Poor diet is not only linked to poor physical health but can also negatively affect mood - eating
well will positively contribute to your mood.
If you are teaching about food groups to your students take your own advice and be a positive
role model!
What to avoid? Relying on chocolate, coffee alcohol or other substances for relaxation or relief
can have unintended negative effects! "
 "Look after yourself physically through: Regular exercise
Build exercise into your day as this can assist with preventing and reducing the signs of stress.
Do that daily work out with your students or walk with a colleague around the school perimeter
after work. This might be a good way to debrief the day as well.
Look for opportunities for incidental exercise and avoid sitting at the computer for long periods
of time – have a break every hour.
Make time for exercise on the weekends – perhaps combine this with a social activity as well? "
 "Look after yourself physically through: Adequate sleep
Feeling tired will add to your stress so try some ways to make sure you get enough sleep – check
out advice online or see your GP.
 Lack of sleep can negatively impact on memory and performance and you won’t want that to
happen while you are teaching!
Listen to some relaxing music, simple meditation or read to help you get in the sleep ‘zone’.
Avoid computer work or using mobile devices for at least an hour before you try to get to sleep.
Make your bedroom a device-free and work-free environment. "

What do the experts say?

 "The KidsMatter program defines mental health in the following ways -
“Mental health is how we think or feel about ourselves and what is going on around us, and
how we cope with the ups and down of life.
Mental health is not mental illness or ‘problems’ or ‘difficulties’. Mental health is part of our
overall sense of wellbeing and includes the positive aspects that create a fulfilling and
meaningful life (eg confidence, optimism, persistence).
Mental health is not about being happy all the time, but being able to manage
life’s challenges effectively in ways that enable us to live a life we value.” (KidsMatter,
2012, p. 29) "

My Notepad
 How can teachers support students' mental health?It is important that teachers have
positive mental health to ensure that we model it for students. Looking after our own
mental health makes us better teachers as we feel more fulfilled allowing us to bring this
into our work.
 Based on what you’ve seen, how would you explain mental health? Why is promoting
positive mental health important for teachers? Mental health is a state of mind that allows
us to respond to challenges that occur in our lives. Mental health can be eroded or
supported by different factors that we occur. ·
 Based on what you’ve seen, how would you explain mental health? Why is promoting
positive mental health important for teachers? Mental health is a state of mind that allows
us to respond to challenges that occur in our lives. Mental health can be eroded or
supported by different factors that we occur. Promoting positive mental health is important
for teachers as it allows us to model positive mental health for our students and ensure that
the way we interact with others empower them.
 When you get stressed, what do you typically do? What other strategies could you use?
When I am stressed I talk to someone and talk out the problem, I then make a targeted plan
to deal with the stressful issue as soon as possible.

Work-life balance

Strategies I have for maintaining my work-life balance.

 Ensure that I do things for myself as well as my work
 Look at my time and split it up
 Make time for myself

My thoughts on "“All I seem to do is work …”"

 Plan out your time
 Figure out what is important and urgent and get those things done
 Make time for friends and family

My top time management strategies.

 Minimise the work you take home with you
 Allow yourself a block of time for work, once this time is over give yourself the rest of the
evening/day to yourself
Tips
 "Develop interests outside work– you may be able to incorporate them into your teaching if you
need a rationale – e.g. take a sport coaching course, go bushwalking, learn a musical instrument
or another language, create a vegetable patch, join a community choir or drama group,
volunteer at your own children’s sport, learn a new craft, write a novel etc. What would suit you?
What would be fun?"
 "Ask a friend or family member to remind you about work-life balance by inviting you out when
you seem to be consumed by work."
 "Decide what is important and urgent, important but not urgent, and not important and not
urgent. Then make decisions accordingly about how you will allocate your time."
 "Sometimes a visual representation is helpful. For example make a chart, draw up a list and tick
off what you accomplish, use the ‘fish and chips shop method’ of sticky notes and move them or
remove them when done."

Quotes
 "I am worried that I may not be able to handle the workload of teaching in the first few years."

What do the experts say?

 "Effective time management strategies have been reported to help teachers maintain a positive
work-life balance (Thieman et al., 2012). In a study of stressors that 135 James Cook University
pre-service teachers faced, Knight, Balatti, Haase, and Henderson (2010) found that poor time
management was a risk factor cited by 12% of the respondents. Curry and O’Brien (2011) present
an analysis of two teachers’ narratives of their first year in the teaching profession. Both
exhibited a high level of stress due to a lack of time for personal and social life and family
commitment. As a result, one teacher gave up and looked for another non-teaching job, while
the other teacher stayed resilient by focusing on her physical and mental wellness and utilising
effective time management strategies such as working smarter and not harder (for example,
using time-efficient practices such as planning or grading during student bookwork time)."

My Notepad
 Make a ‘note to self’ – what can you learn from Deanna’s story? Don't put expectations too high,
allow yourself time to wind down rather than worrying about teaching 100% of the time.

Maintaining motivation
What motivates people to become teachers and to remain as teachers?
 Inspired by others
 Being passionate about teaching
 Wanting to make lived better
 Job satisfaction

My thoughts on "“How will I make it to the end of the term?”"

 Plan out the rest of the term
 Find creative activities that you can do with your class
 Get a head start on reports by taking notes on your students throughout the term so that you
have some feedback on the whole terms work
 Think positively about everything
 Think about what you can do early

My top 3 ways for maintaining my motivation for teaching.

 Be as positive as possible, even if you don't feel positive all the time
 Lean back on family and friends to support you
 Think about what made you want to be a teacher to begin with
Tips
 "Recognise your unhelpful, negative thoughts and create another way of seeing the
situation. Think – it is not permanent, it is not personal, it is not pervasive."
 "Find some positive affirmations that are meaningful to you – keep these where you see them
regularly."

Quotes
 "A resilient teacher is “one who remains positive, doesn't stress the small stuff and focuses on
students."
 "I think it develops with time. The more I teach and learn to get better at preparing, better at
classroom management, better at time management, etc., I’ll get more confident in my abilities
as a teacher, and the more confident I get, the more resilient I’ll be."
 "Although I found prac challenging, I found that I was able to overcome many of the issues giving
myself more faith as a teacher."

What do the experts say?

 "There are three main types of motivations that bring teachers to the profession, namely
intrinsic (e.g., perceived teaching ability, perception of intrinsic value of teaching), extrinsic (e.g.,
job security, career status) and altruistic reasons (e.g., service-oriented goals, desire to make a
social contribution) (Richardson & Watt, 2006; Watt & Richardson, 2008). In other words, some
teachers are aspired by their inner calling, but for some others this career choice is triggered by
convenience factors (Coetzee, Ebersöhn, & Ferreira, 2013; Mackenzie, 2012). However, teachers
who love, believe in, and respect the students they work with, and take pride in making a
difference to their lives are more likely to stay through the span of their career than those who
do not (Cochran-Smith, 2004; Cohen, 2009). Within the context of Australia, Watt and
Richardson (2008) found that preservice teachers who saw intrinsic rewards in teaching had a
high level of planned effort and planned persistence. In contrast, those who were concerned
with extrinsic rewards demonstrated a low level of professional engagement and perseverance.
Indeed, having a clear sense of purpose is an important coping strategy that assists early career
teachers to overcome multiple work-related stressors (Doney, 2013). Nevertheless, extreme
attitudes such as “saving the world” should be avoided as unrealistic ambition can inevitably lead
to burnout (Prilik, 2007, p. 317)."
 "To be emotionally resilient, perfectionism and self-blaming should be reduced and negative
mindsets such as “I can’t do it” or “I can’t be bothered” should be avoided (Bernard, n.d.).
Positive self-talk, together with humour, have been used by new teachers in remote and rural
Western Australian schools use to reduce stress and enhance their coping capacity (Sharplin,
O’Neill, & Chapman, 2011). In a large-scale study of teacher resilience in the United States,
Richards (2012) found that a number of teachers were able to sustain themselves in the face of
adversity by holding positive attitudes and letting go of things that were out of their control.
Likewise, Cohen (2009) reported that teachers who held positive assumptions about their
students and were able to forget unhappy moments and move forward were more likely to
persist and survive in unfavourable teaching environments."

My Notepad
 What advice do you think Charlie would give beginning teachers?
While it is important to set out a classroom the way that you have pictured, you must be flexible.
If something doesn't work change it.