A New Meaning to 100 Days

Yes, 100 days of school means that we are over half-way through the school year, but only just barely. This coupled with break being behind us, cold weather (for many of us) keeping us and our students cooped up and a long road still ahead can leave some educators feeling blue. This makes the 100 day the perfect time of the year to remember to check in with ourselves and with our colleagues.

Here are some easy-to-use prompts to help facilitate this new call to action from the 100th day of school (infographic at the end of this article):

Check in with Yourself

You could absolutely customize this list of prompts – but these are a great start. Gift yourself some quiet time, perhaps after all the students have left, and ponder these questions and what your honest answers say about your current state of wellbeing as an educator.

Do I…

• get enough sleep?
• exercise regularly?
• eat well?
• share my thoughts with others?
• feel stress within my body?
• leave school at school?
• take time for me?

What is my…

• outlook on my career?
• feelings toward my students?
• feelings toward my colleagues?
• feelings toward my administrators?

How do I…

• respond to others?
• express my concerns?
• deal with stress/frustration?

What do I…

• look forward to this school year?
• dread this school year?
• know I can change this school year?

Next, let’s turn our attention to your colleagues. We want our colleagues to be happy and well and also, we know that those around us can help to build us up and empower our own sense of resilience and wellbeing – but only if they themselves are beginning from a good place. 

Check in with your colleagues

Use the 100th day of school as a reminder to check in with your fellow educators. Take this day as a reminder to pop into that classroom or visit the hallway you don’t usually frequent. A quick conversation or short email could make all the difference to a colleague to help them recognize how they are doing with the school year so far. Here are some conversations starters to get you going:

• How’s the school year treating you, really?
• What’s working for you in your classroom?
• What part(s) of being an educator has become a struggle or source of frustration?
• What’s your go-to method of de-stressing?
• What’s an area you could use help/collaboration in?

Again, this is just the beginning of ideas to help you check in on this 100th day of school – customize, add and subtract at will. The important thing is that you take the time to see where you and your colleagues are at with teaching and then reflect on any changes that are necessary to have a successful rest of the school year.