100 Days of School Teacher Wellbeing Check-in
A New Meaning to 100 Days
Let’s also make the 100th day of school a designated time to check-in with teachers and their wellbeing. Let’s use this day, which rarely goes by without notice within the realm of education, as a reminder to take a moment, touch base, and recognize how the school year impacts teachers.
Yes, 100 days of school means that we are over half-way through the school year, but only just barely. This coupled with
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.
Thanks so much for sharing these reflection strategies! I found the questions what did you dread/enjoy especially helpful! Thanks from an art teacher ❤️❤️❤️
Feeling very stressed right now. I feel overwhelmed, especially with technology.
You are definitely not alone. Remember to hold your purpose close and lean on fellow educators who are also wading through this new territory. This year will certainly be different – with different goals, different successes, and different joys, but different doesn’t have to be negative -we can still seek the joy! Take care and let me know how Joy in Teaching can help
Aw, this was a really nice post. In idea I would like to put in writing like this additionally – taking time and actual effort to make a very good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and by no means seem to get something done.