Being a teacher is possibly more physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding today than it’s ever been. Challenges like budget cuts, salary freezes, and mounting expectations from administrators, students, and parents are leaving teachers all over the world burnt out and exhausted. At such demanding times, self-care is not only helpful but essential for sustaining teachers’ physical and mental health, professional success, and overall life satisfaction.
Whether they work at a public educational institution or at a global international school, Singapore teachers have to take actionable steps to manage their fatigue and care for their well-being. If you’ve been feeling especially battered or worn out when teaching lately, the following tips will have you feeling recharged and ready to go back to teaching your best in no time:
Remind Yourself of Your “Why”
For teachers, every day on the job is different. Each brings new successes, challenges, and questions that you have to adapt to and navigate in real time, often all on your own. In the midst of such a hectic and changeable environment, it can be easy to lose sight of why you chose to become an educator in the first place. And when you’re especially burnt out, you may struggle—understandably—to remember why you do this work at all.
In hard times, it’s especially important to revisit the reasons you teach, what your core values are as an educator, and what sources of inspiration you turn to every day. Taking a little time for quiet reflection after a tiring day, for instance, can help you find your center again. If journaling is a helpful practice for you, you may want to list down your reasons so that you can refer to it whenever you need to. Having a concrete reminder of your “why” can be a powerful motivator and grounding force when you feel discouraged about your work.
Remember the Things That Are Going Right
Teaching requires you to troubleshoot almost everything you say and do. From the particular ways you explain a challenging concept to the activities you have your students do in the classroom, you’ll often feel compelled to evaluate every aspect of your teaching continually, moment to moment. While it’s always good to chase your own improvement and strive to create quality experiences for your students, dwelling on challenges too much may lead you to overfocus on what’s going wrong. When you’re especially tired, this can cause you to spiral into negative thoughts about yourself and your work.
If you find yourself carrying a lot of negativity about your performance on the job lately, reverse this thinking by identifying the successes you’ve managed to achieve in recent days. Think about your “wins,” no matter how small and insignificant they might seem, and give yourself permission to celebrate them. A learn to accept your students’ gratitude when they show appreciation for your efforts. Affirming yourself and keeping positive experiences in perspective will help you let negative thoughts go and move forward with a lighter heart.
Show Appreciation to Colleagues and Students
Gratitude can be a powerful rejuvenating force in hard times, particularly when you work in education. And while it’s a no-brainer that being praised, affirmed, and thanked can lift someone’s spirits, abundant research shows that showing gratitude also makes people feel happier and more at peace with themselves.
Make it a point to express to your colleagues and students how thankful you are for them and the things they do. Many will value shows of gratitude even more if you’re able to concretely identify ways they’ve helped you, words they’ve said, or acts of kindness from them that you’ve seen and remembered. Take a few moments to speak with a fellow teacher or a student, and let them know that you appreciate them. Also consider writing them a thank-you note. Any sincere gesture from you will surely uplift both your spirits and strengthen your working relationship.
Take Advantage of Institutional Support
The Singapore Ministry of Education has recognized the need to provide more support for teachers in the face of widespread burnout and rising job turnover rates. The Government has long been encouraging schools to keep faculty morale high by promoting a warm and mutually supportive culture among their teaching staff. Given this, it may help you to look into what teacher support services and activities are available at your school. These may include one-on-one consultations with senior teachers or administrators, counseling sessions, and other similar initiatives.
Soliciting support from your community doesn’t just stop at participating in formal activities, either. It can be as simple as sitting down with a colleague you trust and asking them to help you work through a tricky problem. You can even just chat about your teaching approaches, things you enjoy about your work, and interesting experiences you’ve had in the classroom lately. Knowing that you have people to turn to for professional support can make it that much easier to overcome fatigue and respond to challenges.
Self-care looks different for everyone, so do experiment with different activities and approaches to find the ones that work best for you. Once you develop your own self-care routine and commit to practicing it consistently, you’ll be able to bring your best self back to the classroom that much sooner.
