Week_Number_Eleven


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

PLC Group Name: Magnificent 7 PLC Meeting Location: Cite Lab PLC Meeting Time: Wednesday 10:30AM-12:30PM

** Hour 1 ** ** ENGAGE ** 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!

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: []

** EXPLORE ** Video Concerning Well-being: [| http://www.teachers.tv/videos/coping-with-excessive-workload] Article with tips for healthy Teacher habits: []

** Hour 2 ** ** EXPLAIN ** - What can be the best way to avoid bringing work to your home/family? - Will your stress level affect your students and the way your teach? What ways can we avoid getting stressed at work? - What are the benefits of eating right and exercising?

** ELABORATE ** 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? Suggested topics:
 * How can teachers get and keep a healthy perspective?
 * How can humor be used?
 * How can you interview your potential jobs to understand the kind of work environment and culture that is at that school, and how that would fit with your own personal needs for success?

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!). Discuss what is important to you! • Engaging in personal hobbies? • Remaining involved in your church? • Planning time to see friends? • Getting up at 5:30 to run every morning? • Continued professional development on areas that spark your curiosity? • Making a commitment to getting work done at work and not bringing it home? 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?
 * Hour 3 **
 * EVALUATE **

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?!

When it comes to teaching, your number one priority should be your health and your personal well-being, because if the teacher is in a negative state, then the students will follow right behind that attitude. This will lead into a "no learning zone" for the teacher and the student. There are several ways to keep yourself healthy such as exercising, eating right, taking mini-vacations, and keeping your mind positive with the environment. During our discussion, we all agreed that discipline should be clear and consistently established from the very beginning and throughout the school year. This will definitely decrease the stress of school workload because students know what is expected from them. We also agreed that separating schoolwork and the home environment is a great benefit to the health of the family because family time at home must be valued and enjoyed! Not much was disagreed for this topic because we all came to realize that our health and well-being is a very important perspective which must be met, so that we can succeed in this career and in life in general.

During our discussion, we learned and gained new ideas as to how teachers handle stress and what strategies can be used. For example, exercising is a major stress release and very beneficial to the brain and body. Research has said that exercising improves the success of a person! We know that we learned and grew because we all shared our inputs and strategies of decreasing the stress level of school work.

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!): []

4. Individually, please send your “PLC Check” as an email to Dr. Pierson and Caroline: --What/Who worked well in today’s PLC meeting? --What/Who didn’t work so well in today’s PLC meeting?