Caitlyn+Pham


 * Week 11: Teacher Inquiry: Developing as a Healthy Education Professional **

PLC Group Name: Walnutty Teachers PLC Meeting Location: Library at Walnut Bend PLC Meeting Time: After school - Thursday, November 4, 2010

Teachers wear so many hats: counselor, parent, referee, etc. You nurture others all day long, and sometimes, you’re all out of nurturing ability by the time it comes to taking care of yourself!
 * Hour 1 **
 * ENGAGE **

We’ve talked about being a better teacher by inquiring into your own practice. Today we are going to talk about teacher well-being. As an anticipatory set for today’s lesson, please begin read the following article. (As with all readings, it is intended to prompt discussion, not intended to be the only authority on the topic.) Teacher Wellness: []

We reviewed this website and they are looking for information on teacher wellbeing. They are also focused on what information is missing from case studies that would help improve teacher well-being. []
 * EXPLORE **

Three open-ended discussion questions: 1. Caitlyn - How can teachers be expected to keep from getting overwhelmed when they teach this kids and they just don't understand? 2. Jialian - How can teachers balance stress in the teaching career with stress from your personal life? 3. Amber - How is finding time not to stress going to alleviate my stress? We cannot just turn it on and off like a light switch, it follows us home. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. Laura - The authors of the article tell teachers to create and implement a stress management plan and take care of themselves. However, if they leave for a day to go to the doctor or take a day off to relax, they will have to do double the work when they get back therefore doubling the stress. Of all of the teacher's responsibilities what could be delegated to the administrators or others on campus so that teachers can simply focus on the lessons at hand?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hour 2 **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">EXPLAIN **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[PLC leaders: Here is where you will present a brief activity for the group to test its collective understanding and to push it into new directions. I’m suggesting something like this as a starting point. . . <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Your own well-being—how well you manage the work-life balancing act—impacts the climate in your classroom and even your students’ performance. What else could it impact? Could decades of promised education reform be inadvertently thwarted by teachers’ wellness? Or, is this just a bunch of overinflated nonsense? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Suggested topics:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ELABORATE **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How can teachers get and keep a healthy perspective?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How can humor be used?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How can you interview your potential jobs to understand they kind of work environment and culture that is at that school, and how that would fit with your own personal needs for success?

We would be very interested to talk to take a tour of the schools that we intend to work at and not just the typical lay of the land. We would want to go and take the temperature of the school, the administrators, the teachers, and the students. We would look at the school and see how it is decorated. Is the paint old and crusty? Is there good lighting? Are the walls painted with color or plain white? These things would affect the mood of the teachers and students alike. We would want to talk to the administrators and see what they require the teachers to do. This would be important to know what is expected of you as the teacher to see if you agree. It would be very interesting to talk to the teachers and ask them how long they have been there, how long they intend to stay, are they happy, do they have to tutor after school, do they do professional development, how much, is there summer school? All of this will help us determine if we are willing to comply with the workload required. Are we willing to give that much of ourselves in order to do this job? Finally, we would want to talk to the students to see how they feel about school and if they feel like they are learning, are the lessons interesting, are the teachers respectable, and how they feel about learning. This would be vital information to know to learn about the climate of the school. Do the kids learn by strictly using worksheets, are they nurtured in their learning, are their interests or opinions valued?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. As a group, reflect on what you have learned today about becoming a healthy educator and maintaining work-life balance. What will it take to keep YOU a healthy, happy professional educator? (Note: what works for your friend in the next classroom may not work for you!). [Note for PLC Leaders: you might have members discuss what is important to them.] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">• Engaging in personal hobbies? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">• Remaining involved in your church? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">• Planning time to see friends? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">• Getting up at 5:30 to run every morning? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">• Continued professional development on areas that spark your curiosity? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">• Making a commitment to getting work done at work and not bringing it home? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What choices will you make? Where will you draw boundaries? How can you beat the odds of 1/3 of teachers leaving the field by the 5-years point?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hour 3 **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">EVALUATE **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To keep us happy and healthy we will need: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To get enough rest at night, eat right, exercise as much as possible (could be at recess), consider the profession a hobby, don't take it too seriously, have fun with it, enjoy the kids for who they are, make the lessons fun to you and they will then be fun for them (if you consider their interests).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. As a group, draft a brief statement (approx 1-2 paragraphs) of what you learned or new understandings you came to during this discussion. What did you agree with/about, and what did you not agree with/about? How do you KNOW you learned and grew?!

This meeting really got us thinking about ourselves and how we can maintain a healthy professional life. Of all of the things that teachers do, we often forget to consider oursleves. We were finally able to discuss how to balance our personal life and professional life especially with all of the demands on teachers. We considered positive ways to relieve stress and make the profession more enjoyable. We also considered ways to help us turn off the stressors that we feel from work in order to maintain our personal lives. We should consider teaching as part of our life instead of the only aspect of our life.

We agree that all of these stress managements sound amazing and probably would really help in the reduction of stress felt by teachers. However, we know after participating in Quest 2 that there is simply not enough time to do all of these lovely things. We also do not agree with the article that suggests that teachers not blame the administrators, school district, and policy makers. We feel that the job of being a teacher would be a lot less stressful if all we had to do was focus on teaching. If the administrators and others took care of all of the paperwork, legal restraints, and testing stress then not only would the teachers feel less stressed but the students would as well.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. Individually, it is time to register to present at the QUEST Teacher Research Symposium. Registration is simple, and REQUIRED! Just go to this link and enter your name, email, and general presentation topic (your wondering!): []

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. Individually, please send your “PLC Check” as an email to Dr. Pierson and Caroline: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">--What/Who worked well in today’s PLC meeting?