A Teachers Best Friend

Teaching is an extremely draining activity – both physically and mentally. Standing all day, strutting our fast-paced “Teacher Walk”, and at least 500 squats to desks. Plus, add in emotional fatigue, and it’s no wonder we’re exhausted!

Sleep is our body’s natural way of nourishing and replenishing our resources. But most of us teachers are completely sleep deprived. How can we get more sleep as teachers?

Most of us suck at this.

A client of mine described it as this –

Her: “I stay up late because I don’t want the evening to end.”

Me: “What is underneath that?”

Her: “Well, I guess at some level, I know tomorrow morning will be ‘back to the grindstone’, so I want to keep resting [by hanging out with my boyfriend on the couch].”

I could totally relate. Can you?

Why is Sleep Good for Us?

Sleep is actually WAY more important than you might think. Dr. Michael Roizen, chief wellness officer of the Cleveland Clinic, put it, “Sleep is the most underrated health habit.”

In fact, here is what Arianna Huffington (self-proclaimed sleep evangelist after she had an almost-fatal fainting spell diagnosed as “exhaustion”) had to say about sleep in her book, Thrive:

There’s practically no element of our lives that’s not improved by getting adequate sleep. And there is no element of life that’s not diminished by a lack of sleep…Our creativity, ingenuity, confidence, leadership, and decision-making can all be enhanced simply by getting enough sleep.

Importance of sleep

Here are some of the statistics and studies about the importance of sleep:

Sleep deprivation negatively impacts our mood, our ability to focus, and our ability to access higher-level cognitive functions: the combination of these factors is what we generally refer to as mental performance (Drs. Stuart Quan and Russell Sanna, Harvard Medical School’s Division of Sleep Medicine)
Poor sleep is associated with higher stress levels and a greater risk of heart disease and diabetes (Duke University)
For the sleep-deprived, an extra hour of sleep can do more for their daily happiness than a $60,000 raise (Science)
People make bad judgment calls when sleep-deprived, and REALLY bad things in history have been caused by sleep deprivation (like the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill)
Sleep deprivation is actually a known torture technique (ouch!)
There is so much more I can’t even go into! But here are some resources if you want more facts:

Arianna Huffington’s TED talk on Sleep
Article: How Sleep Deprivation Decays the Body and Mind
Okay – you get it…so now how do we fix it?

7 Tips for Getting More Sleep As a Teacher

1. Get Real About How Much Sleep You Really Need

Most of us don’t know how much sleep we need because we rarely get that amount. That’s okay. Just start tweaking with the amount of sleep you get each night, and then check in with yourself throughout the day to see how you feel. Once you’ve settled on the amount that is best for you, protect it with all your might! For now, start by increasing your sleep by 15 or 30 minutes. Incremental change is still change!!

2. Set a Bedtime Alarm

It’s so easy to create alarms on our phones – set one 30 minutes before your desired bedtime. When you hear the alarm, shut down devices, screens, and any other tasks, and begin your nighttime routine.

3. Plan Your Evening Backward

Plan your evening backward from bedtime. So, for example, if your bedtime is 10 pm, you’ll need to begin winding down (TV off, doing your nighttime routine) at 9:30 pm, so whatever you need to do, shows you want to watch, or papers you want to grade, get it done before 9:30 pm so you can make sure you are in bed on time. If you prioritize your bedtime like you do your wake time, you’ll be much more likely to actually get more sleep!

4. Cut Out the Caffeine after 2 pm

I have never thought I was affected by caffeine, so I would drink coffee even after dinner some nights. But then I started getting more sleep and realized caffeine does affect me – I was always just too sleep-deprived to notice!! The general recommendation from sleep professionals is to cut out caffeine after 2 pm.

5. Have a Nighttime Routine

Create a set of rituals you do before bed, such as a warm bath, decaffeinated bedtime tea, reading, writing in your gratitude journal, meditating/praying, etc. This will cue your body that it’s time to sleep, making it easier for you to fall asleep.

6. Give Your Device a Curfew

There are very clear studies about the effect of “blue light,” which is what our electronics give off, on our brain’s ability to calm down. Give your device a curfew of at least 30 minutes prior to bedtime so your brain and body can begin to get cued that it’s time for bed.

7. Practice Deep Breathing

A few deep breaths before you go to bed will help you relax and will begin the body’s repair process.

Coaching Questions:

Which of these tips resonated with you? How so?
How do you want to integrate the tips listed here to help you get more sleep?
Happy sleeping, wonderful teachers!!

It’s that time of year – or will be soon – for newly purchased notebooks, sharpened pencils all accounted for, the thin lines of new whiteboard markers, washed desks awaiting handprints, and chairs awaiting new friends. The time of year that is crisp with newness. At this time of year, when the weather is so promising and ideal, people across the country are beginning to think about returning. The time of year when students return to your classroom – bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, with chlorine and sun streaked through their hair, and smiles on their faces as they see you. At this time of year, when it’s so promising and ideal, people across the country, friends and teachers, are reunited again.

Teachers across the country are beginning to think about returning to school. And even if you aren’t going back for a while, the summer unwind has taken place, you are recharged, and you are now able to start thinking about what you want to do differently next school year.

You may have gone to a fantastic professional development session this summer, participated in some amazing Twitter chats from your professional learning network, gone to a conference, or visited a teacher friend from across the country. All giving you new ideas and things to try for next year.

How do you sort through all you want to do this year? How do you set, maintain, and sustain your goals for going back to school?

This is the best time to

• Revisit your vision for becoming a teacher,
• Align your yearly goals to that vision,
• and create a plan for getting there.

Visioning

It’s important to take a high-level, 10,000-foot view of your life and career to begin setting goals for returning to school. To begin, I suggest you work on your personal vision statement. If you’ve never formally written a personal vision statement, I highly encourage you to slow down on this step and take a high-level, 10,000-foot view of your life and career to begin setting goals for returning. Think this one through.

Visioning helps you create a personal vision that articulates the desired outcome for your life. You are the author – no one else. Your personal vision will help you to keep “the big picture” in mind when day-to-day stresses of the teaching profession arise.

During visioning, ask yourself these questions (I would recommend journaling the answers):

• What am I most passionate about?
• What do I enjoy most about my life (both in and out of school)?
• Why did I become a teacher?
• What is my purpose in life?
• How does my role as a teacher contribute to my life purpose?
• How do my day-to-day decisions in and out of the classroom help me achieve my greater purpose?
• What do I need to accomplish in my career to feel that I’ve used my role/job/position positively and effectively toward my greater purpose?

When you look at your answers to the above questions, you may see patterns or words and phrases that will help you to create a succinct and condensed personal vision statement. A personal vision statement can be a powerful tool to remind you of your life’s purpose. It can become a mantra for you, helping you decide how to spend your time and energy (in and out of school).

“A personal mission statement is a powerful tool because it provides you with a path for success, and it gives you permission to say no to the things that are distractions,” says Stephanie Vozza of FastCompany.com. In her article about personal vision statements for CEOs, found here, Vozza reveals some examples of personal vision statements from some people you may know:

To be a teacher. And to be known for inspiring my students to be more than they thought they could be. ~Oprah Winfrey

To have fun in [my] journey through life and learn from [my] mistakes. ~Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group

To use my gifts of intelligence, charisma, and serial optimism to cultivate the self-worth and net-worth of women around the world. ~Amanda Steinberg, Founder of DailyWorth.com

Setting Goals for the School Year

Brainstorm Your Goals:

With the vision as your guidepost, brainstorm a list of all the things that you want to accomplish this year. Don’t eliminate any at this point. I like using sticky notes for this. I write each idea on a sticky note and set them all aside for now. Include in your brainstorming all the things you want to keep doing that worked for you last year. Now, in this part of the process, you may want to brainstorm goals in categories:

• goals for each subject you teach
• before school goals
• after-school goals
• work/life balance goals
• professional development goals
• extra income goals
• family life goals
• etc.

Organize and Prioritize Your Goals:

Stick your ideas on the whiteboard or on a large flat work surface.

Now begin organizing them. You may start by organizing them into categories (like above, or others that work for you).

Next, think about each goal in relation to your overall vision. Then organize them this way:

1. Put a #1 on goals that are easy to accomplish and are in line with your vision.
2. Put a #2 on goals that are hard to accomplish and align with your vision.
3. Put a #3 on goals that are easy to accomplish but are not in line with your vision (or don’t contribute in a big way to your vision)
4. Put a #4 on goals that are hard to accomplish and are also not in line with your vision (or don’t contribute in a big way to your vision)

Here is an example: A teacher in Oregon has a personal vision statement: “Use my passion in science and technology to inspire the students in my classes to be life-long learners who seek to know, improve, create, and innovate the world around them.” She completes the goal-setting task outlined above and identifies the following goal: “To participate in Twitter chats twice a week with my PLN (professional learning network).” Depending on the type of Twitter chat she engages in, this goal may or may not align with and contribute to her overall vision. It’s also difficult for her to do so because she has commitments in the evenings when the Twitter chats take place. After considering this, she puts it down as in the #2 category. She knows she can limit this to chats aligned with her vision, but it would still be a difficult goal to attain. If it’s a worthwhile goal, she will have to decide whether to revise it to make it more attainable.

Here is another example: A teacher from Indiana has a personal vision statement to “lead, encourage, challenge, and inspire both his students and his family to seek their fullest potential,” and he aims to take on more committee leadership this year. Upon contemplating this goal, he realizes that increased committee time will mean he will have less time to lesson-plan and less time with his family. Because both groups (his students and family) are more important to him than the leadership he would cultivate through the committee involvement, he decides to leave and will have less time to lesson-plan at #4.

Now you need to decide which of the goals you’ve brainstormed and categorized you will actually do this year. It’s probably no secret why the goals are categorized as #1, #2, #3, and #4 above.

• #1 are what I like to call the “No brainers” – they are easy to do and align to your vision. Go ahead and add those to the “To Accomplish This Year” pile.
• #2 goals are harder to accomplish, but may be worth it for accomplishing your broader vision. In this case, examine each goal and determine whether it is worth pursuing. This will require some tough decisions and intentionality. If you decide to keep it and put it in the “To Accomplish This Year” pile, then you need to be willing to commit to the hard work it will take to accomplish it. If you don’t feel inspired to commit, or you know it’s just not a realistic goal, consider revising it or setting it aside.
• #3 goals are easy, but aren’t necessarily contributing to your broader mission. Goals in this category may be tempting because they are things you can easily do – but if accomplishing them meant giving up on a #2 goal, would you still do it? If the answer is no, then put it aside. You can keep this as a “Nice to Accomplish but Not a Priority” pile.
• #4 goals are difficult to accomplish or ask you to sacrifice a lot, AND they don’t contribute to your mission/vision. These are also “no-brainers” because they should really be taken off your plate altogether. In our Indiana teacher’s case, he may feel disappointed to say “no” when the sign-up sheet for committee leadership comes around. Still, with this level of contemplation, he will feel much more confident in his decision and will know that by saying “no” to this, he can say “yes” to something that brings him more fulfillment.

Now that you have your goals written out. There may be too many to accomplish realistically. Look at those you have left and weed out (or readjust your expectations for) any that you simply realistically will not get to.

Make Your Goals S.M.A.R.T.

For each that remains (hopefully no more than 2-3 in each category), develop them into S.M.A.R.T. goals.

• S = Specific
• M = Measurable
• A = Attainable
• R = Realistic
• T = time sensitive or time driven (give yourself a time frame).

Here is an example of a SMART goal: I will create more work/life balance for myself this school year by leaving school 45 minutes after school lets out at least 3 days a week.

• This goal is specific – I will leave school 45 minutes after school lets out.
• The goal is measurable – I will know whether I made it by setting a timer and making sure I leave before it goes off.
• It is attainable – 45 minutes is enough time for me to do the essentials, plus I have 2 days a week where I can stay a little later for committees or planning.
• It is realistic because I know 45 minutes will give me enough time to get the essentials done and force me to be efficient with my time.
• The goal is time-sensitive because it is something I plan to do each week of this school year. Sometimes the T, or time-sensitive part of the goal, is the deadline (e.g., lose 10 pounds by March 1st). So the T for some of your goals may be “by the end of the first semester” or “by the end of the school year,” etc.

Make sense?

Now that you have a few SMART goals for the year, you need to create a plan for attaining them.

Creating a Plan

This is the part of the process that is most often overlooked. We set all kinds of goals for ourselves, but don’t put a plan in place to accomplish them. Then the realities and stresses of the year hit, and we forgo or forget our goals.

So, now you develop your goals into a plan, just as you craft a lesson plan. You have your end in mind, now figure out your daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly goals to get there.

Let’s say your professional development goal is to develop your skills in integrating technology into the classroom. First, determine which tasks need to be completed to achieve that goal.

Perhaps the tasks are (1) learn about different modes of technology integration and gather ideas, (2) pick and idea you would like to try and learn more about it if necessary, (3) implement the idea, (4) reflect on your practice to determine if you need to adjust or gather more information, (5) make the adjustment or gather the information, (6) try the technique again, reflect, adjust, and continue monitoring.

Since there are 6 phases to this goal, I recommend splitting them over the year. So, by December break, you will have completed steps 1-4. Then, from January through April, I recommend splitting them so you can complete steps 5 and 6 and make the technique a regular part of your teaching practice.

Note: If you are required to set yearly professional development goals for your school or district, this is a perfect opportunity to begin planning them. Don’t ADD another goal to your plate when goal-setting time comes. Just pick one of these to include in your official professional development plan.

You Did It!

This process may seem like a lot, but trust me – it works! If it seems overwhelming to do it on your own, you may want to consider working through it with a coach. Being intentional with your vision, goals, and plan of action is the first step to being a wholehearted teacher! In fact, there are some other great ways to set yourself on the right path for wholehearted teaching this school year, which I’ll go through in my next several blog posts:

• Getting Organized
• Planning for the Little and Big Things
• Organizing Your Workstation

I can’t wait to see what’s in store for you this year! With wholehearted teaching as your goal, this school year is sure to be a great one!

Wholeheartedly Yours,

~Alison, A Teacher’s Best Friend