Featured Book: The Well-Balanced Teacher
The Well-Balanced Teacher: How to Work Smarter and Stay Sane Inside the Classroom and Out is a book for teachers about how to stay healthy and balanced so that we can maintain the passion and energy needed to meet the needs of our students. It may not be easy, but it is possible. We owe it to ourselves, our families, our friends, our colleagues and our students and their families to take care of ourselves! To see a short summary of each chapter, look below.
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Chapter 1: The Importance of Managing Stress
There's no doubt. Teaching is one of the most stressful professions. Through a mix of research and personal experience I look at why teachers must deal with so much stress. I also start to build the case for why it's so important for teachers to be healthy and balanced: in order to take good care of others we must learn to take good care of ourselves.
Chapter 2: Meeting Our Most Basic Needs
What are some of the most basic needs that we have, and why is it so hard to meet them as a teacher? Here are just a few: eating healthy food, drinking enough water, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, and refreshing our spirit. This chapter examines ways in which teachers can better meet these needs within the context of our hectic schedules and crazy workloads.
Chapter 3: Belonging: Becoming an Important Part of a Community
Teachers interact with hundreds of people each year: students, colleagues, families, administrators, community members, and others. Building and maintaining healthy relationships isn't just part of being a good teacher though, it's also important for our own health and sense of balance.
Chapter 4: Significance: Teaching with a Sense of Purpose
Although many of us entered the teaching profession filled with a sense of purpose, it can be hard to maintain that amidst the craziness of everyday teacher-life. This chapter offers many suggestions for ways to sustain and strengthen our sense of significance and professional vision and passion.
Chapter 5: Competence: The Importance of Self-Efficacy
It can't be emphasized enough. In order to stay positive and motivated as teachers, we need to know that we're good at what we do. Yet all too often, teachers focus too much on their weaknesses and speak of their skills in self-depricating ways. It's vitally important that teachers learn how to set realistic goals and revel in their successes.
Chapter 6: Fun: The Importance of Positive Engagement
In these days of accountability, failing schools, and high-stakes testing, the idea of making sure that teachers are having fun at school might seem quaint, or perhaps even irresponsible. I argue that it's essential for teachers to enjoy their daily work. After all, if we can't enjoy teaching, how will students ever enjoy learning?
Chapter 7: Balance: The Importance of Planning Our Time and Energy
Achieving good work-life balance doesn't just happen. We have to plan for it. All too often, as teachers, we find ourselves coping with our crazy teacher-lives reactively. Instead, we need to handle our time more intentionally, prioritizing and making important decisions about how to best focus our time and energy.
