Self-Care Begins in the Class, Not Outside of It

By. Craig Perrier

I will never forget what my mentor teachers told me during my student teaching run in the late 1990s – if you are more tired than the kids by the end of the day, then you aren’t doing your job effectively.  Unfortunately, this sentiment could be interpreted as a celebration of laziness or justification for professional minimalism.  But the message here is more a tribute to the power of good teaching to impact all those involved in a positive way by combining combines instructional design with self-care.

Driving this idea home, I recall my mentor teachers to meet with them at the end of the day to rank our “exhaustion level” and correlate it to the type of instructional practices I used.  The equation was simple,  the more my voice and my activity was dominant in the class, the more worn out I was. Simply put I was the one doing the work, and in turn, all the thinking and learning. My students could just sit back and watch the show.

But like any good mentors, they offered the solution, or rather had me think about the solution – so they wouldn’t get tired. And this was the answer – design learning experiences that gets students talking moving, thinking, and learning.  Of course, creating these types of classes takes time and energy. But designing class for students to be “doing the learning” had a positive impact on multiple areas.  For example, my energy was higher for life after class, I was less irritated resulting in better and more attentive relationship development, and I was more positive about my work and personal lives.

Most importantly, switching the activity energy in my class made learning for my students more fun.  And seeing them get excited about their own education was just an additional positive aspect no doctor could prescribe. Stay well!

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