Long hours and a multitude of stressors make teaching one of the most demanding jobs out there. A hectic schedule and long workdays can lead to decreased effectiveness. Mindfulness can help educators reduce stress and prevent burnout.
Long hours and a multitude of stressors make teaching one of the most demanding jobs out there. A hectic schedule and long workdays can lead to decreased effectiveness. Mindfulness can help educators reduce stress and prevent burnout.
According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, mindfulness is “paying attention on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally, to the unfolding of experience moment to moment.”
Mindfulness can boost mental health and resilience:
- Build awareness of thoughts and emotions: Daily, educators are faced with negative behaviors. Mindfulness can help a person to become less reactive and better able to think about the desired outcome in a stressful situation.
- Increase self-compassion: Educators are often very hard on themselves for many reasons—a failed lesson, the inability to reach a challenging student, saying the wrong thing to a student or parent—the list goes on. Mindfulness teaches how to reflect on thoughts without judging them as “good” or “bad.” Reflection without judgment helps a person have more compassion for herself.
- Improve classroom environment: When educators can minimize stress, they are able to more effectively carry out lesson plans, manage classroom behaviors and build relationships with students. In return, on-task behavior and students’ academic performance improve.
Mindfulness can boost staff morale and establish a less stressful learning environment in your after school program!
For more ideas, check out 7 Easy Ways to be Mindful Every Day and 3 Tiny Habits to Enhance Your Mindfulness Practice.
