5 Ways to Take Care of Yourself This School Year

From: www.werocktheyroll.com 

News Flash! Teaching is Stressful! That's not exactly news, is it? According to an ABC News report, teaching ranks the 4th most stressful profession and if you're also a parent, you make number 1!

For me, it wasn't until my 7th year of teaching that I began to understand the importance of taking care of myself, both physically and emotionally, so that I could better take care of the needs of my students each day. If we as educators are expected to manage student behavior, we must also manage our own behaviors. Many times, our reactions and treatment of students is based upon our emotions and stress levels and may lead to unfair treatment of both students and coworkers. 

Below I've taken the word PURGE and added ways educators can effectively take care of themselves throughout the school year. Because there's a lot of stress that accumulates in our minds and bodies that must be purged or otherwise we are a bunch of grumpy and irritable individuals who no one wants to be around!

P- 1) Plan to Play. What are your hobbies? Is it gardening, playing with children and/or pets, exercising, or catching Pokemon? Each of these activities provides opportunities to smile and laugh. Make time, and plenty of it, for playing.

From www.truehealthct.com

2) Prepare your week. One of the benefits of teaching is that our schedules rarely change. For me, my day (officially) begins at 7:30am and ends at (officially) 3:00pm. Realistically it's more like 7:00-4:30. With technology today, you can set reminders on your phone for however many days you want to plan your week of play or days to workout (more on this with letter E).

From www.workout-calendar.com 

U-Understand your triggers. You have things that get on your nerves. Everyone has their triggers, but when it comes to school, what are your trigger points? Is it a person? Is it an activity? Make a list and times of day these are likely to occur and have your response ready to how you react.

From www.lifematters.com

R- Recognize your stress level. When you start feeling that pressure building in your shoulders and back or your face becoming that lovely shade of Angry Red, activate your response as listed in U. If a student who talks back consistently after being corrected causes you to want to say what you really feel and may cause you to lose control, take a deep breath or look away to prevent a regrettable decision. If your stress builds in your shoulders and back, pull your shoulders back and stand/sit up straighter. Do what is needed to get back to neutral so you are more effective in what you do. 

From www.bwterao.wordkpress.com 

G- Get away. If you're like most educators, thoughts of your students and the ongoings of your classroom are almost always on your mind. But let me speak some truth to those of you today (me included). Get off Twitter and Pinterest, stop opening work emails at home, leave your gradebook at school and simply get away from anything related to work. Make appointments either weekly or at least once a month to rest, get a massage, and refuel by going on a weekend or nightly getaway. This also goes back to your planning. When are your most stressful times of year? October, February, May? Those are mine. Plan something special for yourself to get your mind off work stress and focus on you!

From www.blitzandglam.com 

E- Exercise. Yes, this is most people's New Year's Resolution and, for some, a sensitive topic. Okay, maybe your way of purging stress is to enjoy comfort food and that's okay but I'm not getting into that today. Taking care of yourself also involves planning how you relieve your stress in a healthy manner. I love how the image below shows how running is more than just exercise. It, for me, is a combination of a Get-away and taking care of my physical and emotional stability. The new school year is about to begin. Incorporate some type of physical activity into your weekly activity plans so that your mind and your body can be a little bit less stressed. 

From www.fauxrunner.com

5 Educational Apps/Resources You've Probably Never Heard Of...Yet

Some of you reading this post may, in fact, have at least heard the names of a few of these educational resources. But if there is one in this list that is completely foreign to you, then I have succeeded in publishing this post.

Many of these resources came to my attention through Twitter. A few began following me first and once I clicked their link and found them interesting, I followed them back and now have decided to share how they may assist you in your classrooms and schools. Please comment below if you have used any of these in your classrooms and share with them on Twitter your thoughts.

1. Mix Link (www.mixlink.us, @mixlinkedu)

Mix Link provides create, interactive no-prep lessons created by teachers, for teachers. Lessons may include videos, photos, and texts allowing students to answer questions after viewing. Mix Link also allows teachers to create their own lessons to be shared and featured in Mix Link.

Check out this lesson created by Liz Saul, a 4th grade teacher, on the Gold Rush.




2. Choosito (www.choosito.com, @choosito)

Choosito allows teachers to curate and provide web content and resources for their students. Instead of having to select from millions of resources while performing an internet search, Choosito determines if which ones are appropriate for your students’ grade levels, varying reading abilities and topic of research.



3.  Class Tag (www.classtag.com, @classtagme)

Class Tag allows teachers to connect with parents to build a partnership through a communication platform. Once teachers sign up, they can add students, parent email, and then begin sharing photos, homework assignments, and important dates.




4. Thing Link (www.thinglink.com, @thinglink)

Thing Link allows you to create interactive images and videos for web, social, advertising and educational channels. Once a ThingLink is created, it will allow for content to be easily discoverable and deepen reader involvement. Simply embed videos and web links inside images to make content come alive.




5. Class Craft (www.classcraft.com, @classcraftgame)

Many of you have heard of Class Dojo, well Class Craft is an upper-level version of this classroom management tool. 

Class Craft is a free online, educational role-playing game that teachers and students play together in the classroom. By using many of the conventions traditionally found in games today, students can level up, work in teams, and earn powers that have real-world consequences. Acting as a gamification layer around any existing curriculum, the game transforms the way a class is experienced throughout the school year.

My Top 5 Resources from UTC 2016

This was my first year attending the Upstate Technology Conference sponsored by the Greenville County School District. Leading up to the conference I was extremely impressed by the organization and communication by its leaders. As a presenter, having an automatic entry into the quickly "sold out" conference was a definite plus. 

Here are just 5 of the tools from the 2-day conference and the resources that teachers can find very useful and have an immediate impact on student achievement.

1) Seesaw: This (still) fairly new student digital portfolio is already making waves in classrooms and the response from teachers, students and parents is enormous! Teachers can create "classes" where students post images with captions, videos, and much more then allow parents to access their student's work. Teachers must approve student posts before the entire class is then able to view, comment, and learn from each other. 

2) Apple Classroom: No, don't get this confused with Google Classroom. Both, although similar in name, provide uniquely different services. Apple Classroom's purpose is to ease the pain for teachers having to assist with remembering student Apple ID's, monitoring student activity on apps, and organizing each student's folders to allow easier access to apps, just to name a few. Teachers are able to view each student's iPad activity, push out apps, lock student access to certain apps, and share student work over Airplay. These are just a few of the features but I know teachers are going to breathe a deep sigh of relief over this program!

3) Sway: This presentation tool from Microsoft features drag and drop as its creation method. When most presentation tools require downloading images, videos and other resources from the net, Sway has built-in search for your presentation that allows the user to search and select. Then, Sway automatically adjusts the item to fit into the presentation with ease. Of course, if there's any adjustment you would like to make, then it's not a problem. Simply "emphasize" the size and you're ready to go. Here's a link to my Sway I used at UTC.  

4) Wonderopolis: Teaching our students to wonder is why all teachers do what they do. Wonderopolis provides daily wonders known as the Wonder of the Day. For example, "Why Do Athletes Stretch Before They Workout?" This question begins with an explanation and ultimately allows students to create their own "wonders". Interested in Project-Based Learning? Here is a great resource to get started.

5) Augmented Reality: Pokemon Go is just getting started and who knows when and where it will end. AR apps such as Animal Alphabet, Quiver Vision, and Aurasma bring reality and augmentation together causing students to be amazed and wonder "how in world does this work?" Students will not want to stop creating and then interacting with their work. These resources will engage students in the learning process and provide opportunities for students to share their learning and, perhaps, they will "catch them all!"

Aurasma