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Please read "Superficial Self-Care" (6-minute read)

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Please read "Superficial Self-Care" (6-minute read)

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Please read this short piece from Education Week: "Superficial Self-Care? Stressed-Out Teachers Say No Thanks." Link directly or view the PDF.

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Superficial Self-Care_ Stressed-Out Teachers Say No Thanks

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We will organize your responses in order to share them within CIT, and then we will forward relevant responses to appropriate district leadership. The goal is that the voices and insights of our CIT teacher leaders will be heard by those who need to hear them.

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When you have made your contribution here . . . 

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When you have made your contribution here . . . 

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"Like" or Comment on other contributions and then visit "Beyond Superficial Self-Care #2: What do we need from each other?"

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Consistency in policies such as discipline, for everyone to take see things as urgent and important so that real changes can happen. For example: adopt a school-wide late policy and stick to it or adopt a policy on how to deal with students who are cursing teachers out just for asking them to go to class.

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I think it looks like money. Providing teachers real resources to make the job less stressful: more social workers, more school psychologists, more paras to help with the workload. Fewer meetings. Freedom to leave the building without having to sign in and out like most people who work in offices are able to do. More time to plan. More access to Chromebook and chargers for students. There are solutions, but there is a price tag.

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It's difficult, because the focus seems to be on the wrong things. They PD us to death on instruction, but instruction doesn't matter if everyone involved is traumatized. I feel like they are just pretending everything is normal. Which it is not. I feel like our district has no focused at all on the well being of staff and students. It's like yep. It sucks. Here is a pd on writing better lessons and ieps. Meanwhile, I'm having panic attacks at work. 

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It's difficult, because the focus seems to be on the wrong things. They PD us to death on instruction, but instruction doesn't matter if everyone involved is traumatized. I feel like they are just pretending everything is normal. Which it is not. I feel like our district has no focused at all on the well being of staff and students. It's like yep. It sucks. Here is a pd on writing better lessons and ieps. Meanwhile, I'm having panic attacks at work. 

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A clean, rodent free work place is a good place to start to show that our health and wellness and our students' health and wellness is important to the district. Providing a few quiet spaces around the school where teachers and staff can go to clear their heads during a hectic day would also be beneficial. Allowing teachers some professional judgement so if it is a day when her students need a little more down time, the teacher can provide it without being in trouble with her administrator. The district should also consider a more workable plan for subs in the future. Maybe hire more building subs and paraprofessionals that can be utilized as extra support if not subbing and can cover classes so that music, art, etc. doesn't have to cancel their classes to cover for absences.

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I feel the most valued, trusted, respected, and refreshed when my school gives its teachers a choice in how to use our PD time. Someone might need to spend an hour being active with a trusted colleague, while another might need to sit quietly and get plans made for the next day.

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If the staff is treated with respect and as professionals (all school staff including administration), then the ability to work together with less stress is achievable.  In the RCSD, the administration spends too much time looking over their shoulder waiting for the CO to give them more stress and then the administration turns around and does the same thing to the school staff.

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I have had this discussion with several peers and WISH the powers that be at CO would have thought about a transition window for students to get re-adjusted to being back to full-time in-person learning. Students came back to school this year as though they were not in remote learning for over a year.

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1. A 4 day work week for students. Students needed the asynchronous time to complete assignments and "deal" with stress. Teachers would still have 5 days, but could meet with students/families/colleagues/school related tasks that need completing.
2. Less focus on testing.
3. Remove ABCDF grades and switch to pass/fail to alleviate stress for students.
4. Stop the factory model of education. Students should be grouped by ability and interest, not always age.
5. Students need more access to psychologists, paras, special ed services, including trauma/social work.
6. More community events at schools. Meet & greet with parents as stakeholders for our schools.
7. Teachers need more unencumbered planning/grading time.
8. Students need more unscheduled release time (open periods) where they can meet, socialize, and build positive relationships and engage in social emotional activities (run by older students or community members).
9. Students should be placed in classes by ability, not age. Students need more choices over their education, not a "one size fits all" situation.
10. We need to break the outdated "machine" of education and rebuild.
11. Students need time for school to be a social place. Build in more social time for students. The college model of classes is a good example for high school students. Classes do not need to meet every day so students can get authentic learning.

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Self Care Messages that are too shallow to swim in!

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Self Care Messages that are too shallow to swim in!

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Prior to the pandemic, self care messages from CO and principals were a laugh. As they stack extra paperwork and fill our 20 minute 'breaks' with tedium, an email might arrive to tell us to make time for ourselves.

About a month ago, I approached a teacher who was silently weeping in the staff lounge. This is someone that you would never guess could have a weak moment like this. She had just been hit, bit and kicked by a student that she believed needed some genuine mental health support. She had been asking and emailing for support since October. She had written the endless MTSS paperwork but no help had arrived. She went from a leader in our grade level to a person eager to leave this profession embittered by the lack of effort from CO and administration. She felt alone. She said that the bear minimum is all that she can give and she has kept that word. The lack of care from our district is hurting their people, both young and old.

Now that we are recovering from the significant damage of remote learning, these messages of 'chin up' are insulting. The district can make their schools a better place for children and staff buy investing in them. Emotional support systems for students, genuine planning time for elementary school teachers, more paraprofessionals to take students for play and social interaction could be a start. How about a school wide recess system that is staffed? Our children need back what the pandemic has taken. The demands on teachers keep rising and the supports are smaller and smaller. The message has been loud and clear. CO does not care about their teachers' health and well being. What those 'take time for mindfulness' emails really mean? Do the job with less and give more of yourself. It is a desperate time for our district to retain their teachers, if only they truly would invest in their well being.

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I'd like to see students working in smaller groups for more of the school day.

The district definitely needs more social workers.

I think this is a great opportunity to take advantage of what the arts have to offer.  Student choice and more time devoted to what interests students will genuinely engage them and build their self-esteem.

There needs to be more personal choice when it comes to professional developments on half days and superintendent's' days. Teachers need more planning time and not some random PD to make the administration 'look good'.

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Leaders to stop recognizing how much teachers have on their plate and adding more to it. Telling teachers to practice self-care and limiting the days they can take off (only Tuesday-Thursday) of their own personal time off. 

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Leaders to stop recognizing how much teachers have on their plate and adding more to it. Telling teachers to practice self-care and limiting the days they can take off (only Tuesday-Thursday) of their own personal time off. 

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Freedom to be professionals; acknowledgement that we are all doing the best we can. If I have to get my own kids off the bus in the afternoon, allow me the flexibility to do so. (I don't have a classroom). We are ALL affected by this pandemic, access to child care, etc. Also equip schools with actual intervention services that help kids (at the MS/HS level).  

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Freedom to be professionals; acknowledgement that we are all doing the best we can. If I have to get my own kids off the bus in the afternoon, allow me the flexibility to do so. (I don't have a classroom). We are ALL affected by this pandemic, access to child care, etc. Also equip schools with actual intervention services that help kids (at the MS/HS level).  

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I have an intern who is overwhelmed and has had it. Despite all the strategies, conversations and venting, she feels that her school and the district really don't care about children or her wellbeing. She is seeking employment elsewhere next year.

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Teachers are overworked. As districts are constantly required to do more with less, they take advantage of the typical teacher personality that wants to help. If we really want teachers to practice self care, we need to reduce their workload. That starts with making teaching a more appealing profession. The years of punishing teaches for arbitrary test scores, overworking them and undervaluing them with words and with pay have taken their toll. Not enough people are going into teaching to replenish the ranks of teachers who retire, let alone to replenish those who are leaving because the job has so much less to do with helping students than in the past. We should start by investing in teachers and schools with reduced class sizes, lighter workloads and supportive administrators and higher salaries. Then we can actively recruit high quality candidates into teaching with incentives to study education in college and incentives to stay in the profession, particularly in high need schools.

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...if buildings were given more flexibility in the ways in which they schedule their days?  There are many different ways in which to meet the mandatory minutes in each subject area and, during the pandemic closures, many of these new ways to meet instructional goals got explored in a more free-form setting.  Some approaches didn't work, but some did, providing students the time they needed to meet their own personal needs (i.e. - sensory, movement) and work at their own pace.

When we reopened, we as a district moved right back to doing the work of education the same way we always did...but in the meantime, the participants' needs changed.  The dysfunction throughout the system is connected to this misalignment.  It is, of course, critically important to ensure that all schools' curriculum is aligned, particularly with our fairly transitory population, but the way in which that curriculum is implemented can and should be customized for each school's needs.

When looking at data, who is doing this work successfully?  What district programs are innovating in the structure of their students' school days in a way that is providing measurably improved student outcomes?  Why aren't we providing a curated menu of approaches that work for our students to building leaders so they can pick one that may work for them?

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We need our school/district to stop asking teachers to go above and beyond and to do more.  It's amazing what some teachers have done during this pandemic time to help their students but it's also ridiculous and unrealistic to expect this from  teachers.  A teacher having to teach from her car because she doesn't have a space in the school (just an example) is amazing of her but this should not be ok! Stop asking teachers to  make up for inadequate conditions,  schedules, technology, support, etc!   

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We need our school/district to stop asking teachers to go above and beyond and to do more.  It's amazing what some teachers have done during this pandemic time to help their students but it's also ridiculous and unrealistic to expect this from  teachers.  A teacher having to teach from her car because she doesn't have a space in the school (just an example) is amazing of her but this should not be ok! Stop asking teachers to  make up for inadequate conditions,  schedules, technology, support, etc!   

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We need actual resources and bodies on the ground--not just all the 'talk about it'.  I've heard time and again they don't want to use the COVID funding to hire people because it will run out in a few years and we could lose those positions. However, the next few years are going to be hard and we need that support now.  Social workers, counselors, intervention teachers, etc.

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The current MTSS structure is collapsing under the weight of students' academic and behavioral needs at most buildings, leaving teachers (particularly those new to the district or profession who are unused to dysfunctional systems) feeling unsupported and unheard.  Savvy building and district leaders need to empower their staff to create additional grassroots solutions to meet student needs without relying solely on already overwhelmed resources (i.e. - MTSS, SSOs, administrators, CSEs).

This could take the form of encouraging and establishing well-functioning buddy classrooms widely throughout buildings to support students' SEL needs proactively and in times of crisis.  For academic needs, it may look like encouraging flexibility (i.e. - vertical teaming, walk-to-read) in providing additional instruction to students and giving teachers a support network for instructional strategies.

For overwhelmed emergency sub systems, district leaders need to review emergency sub protocols with all building leaders, then hold these leaders accountable for using them correctly.  This alone will meet the need for subs in shortage areas while helping to "share the load" amongst those on the list by acknowledging the value of their time and respecting their programs.

These approaches cost no money, but can reap huge rewards for staff by giving them more tools in their toolbox to use proactively instead of waiting for external help that may never come.

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To start, the district needs to allow teachers sufficient time in their day for planning/prep/break. SO much of our work is expected to be done on our own time and how can teachers REALLY practice "self-care" when we are one of the only professions who are required to do a large part of their job outside of their contractual time, unpaid.  During the school day, breaks are often jam packed with meetings/grade-levels, etc.  Lunches are over in 20 minutes after transitions.  The work load only continues to increase year after year yet the time to complete the work stays the same and in some cases decreases.  Teachers should be able to log time spent outside of the contractual work day to be able to be compensated.  Perhaps if the district treated their teachers like the professionals they are, we wouldn't have such a difficult time retaining teachers.  Just maybe we wouldn't have teachers leaving the professional all together.

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STOP using teachers as hall monitors and porters. 

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STOP using teachers as hall monitors and porters. 

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Invite community and family support for monitoring or hire more paras and SSO's. Instead of the mandatory administrative assignments, release staff to schedule team meetings for class, PBL, vertical, grade level, content, and building planning. Better planning on the front end for school environment, classroom routines and team alignment of academics and procedure makes less cleanup work on the back end. I should not be using my degrees to watch a lunch room, monitor a hallway, or walk big kids to a bus. Admin assignments are also not adhered to contractually by all members. When admins do not clarify assignments, assign multiple little tasks, and also change them up mid year, they are not easy to calculate if they are distributed or assigned fairly. Multiple little assignment are also very disruptive to a school day.

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I feel as though the violence in many of our schools is brushed under the rug and teachers are being assaulted as a result of district leaders asking teachers to provide consequences for violent students. We need a strong physical presence and consequences across the district for violent students. They should not be allowed back into the building if they have assaulted a staff member. Their should be an alternative school, like when we had Josh Lofton, for students to work with social workers, councelors, intervention teachers, etc.

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I think starting with honest acknowledgement about the real challenges facing students and staff is an important first step. Sometimes, people just need to feel comfortable labeling when something is just not good. I think at times, sharing a "real view" can be looked at as being negative or complaining. In reality, getting out the details of what is really creating stress and angst should be looked at as the beginning of self- care and problem- solving. We have to acknoeldge and identify what is causing stress and anxiety in order to be able to break that down and come up with helpful ways to manage what's happening. Sorting out the things we can control versus those we cannot. Using the shared concerns of staff as a starting point to prioritize where to start. Building community in buildings to help support each other. And, recognizing that all the wellness and self- care strategies in the world don't solve problems. They support students and staff so that they can be able to think, reason and problem solve.  

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I think starting with honest acknowledgement about the real challenges facing students and staff is an important first step. Sometimes, people just need to feel comfortable labeling when something is just not good. I think at times, sharing a "real view" can be looked at as being negative or complaining. In reality, getting out the details of what is really creating stress and angst should be looked at as the beginning of self- care and problem- solving. We have to acknoeldge and identify what is causing stress and anxiety in order to be able to break that down and come up with helpful ways to manage what's happening. Sorting out the things we can control versus those we cannot. Using the shared concerns of staff as a starting point to prioritize where to start. Building community in buildings to help support each other. And, recognizing that all the wellness and self- care strategies in the world don't solve problems. They support students and staff so that they can be able to think, reason and problem solve.  

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-smaller class sizes. No elementary class should be greater than 16 so that teachers can attempt to meet the needs of each student, complete the mounds of paperwork required to get the supports these students need, and communicate with families to build the relationships necessary to improve attendance and involvement. It will be very difficult to find staff to hire for these extra positions at first, but after some time and proving that this model would not go away, the district would retain teachers that they have and many may even come back to what attracted them to work in the city in the first place - the students and making a difference!
-teachers' voices need to be heard and valued when it comes to what is in their students' best interest.  For example, we have students in 3rd grade that have only attended school for 60% of the year or less.  They are several years below grade level in reading.  Due to their attendance they will not receive any additional supports through CSE process.  In cases like this it would be highly beneficial for the student to repeat the year, but this has become a taboo topic and no support or consideration is given to retention on a case by case basis.  No, not every student below grade level should be retained, but there are many cases where it would benefit the student.
-other options need to be created for the subbing crisis.  Give monetary incentives to those teachers that are NOT taking time off. Use teachers/staff that do NOT work with students in their daily schedules.  Call in the National Guard if need be.  BUT stop using teachers that work with students as subs!!  Canceling groups(instruction) to use that person as a sub IS NOT helping our schools advance learning and get out of receivership!  We are shuffling deck chairs on a sinking Titanic! Also, giving extra students to others (splitting classes) does not work when it is happening DAILY!  These teachers are already overwhelmed with large classes and too many needs, then they acquire other students often of different grade levels than what they teach.  The student visitors don't do much(any) work independently and it is a wasted day for them.  There has to be a better way.
I could go on, but I'll stop here...

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As someone who focuses on health and wellness for myself and my family, there is no amount of self-care my principal can offer that would make up for the underlying systemic issues that are creating the toxic environment that is public education. I don't know what the answer is, but until there is true light shined on the underlying issues that are creating the unsafe environments where teachers may need "self-care". Nothing really matters. You can exercise, eat well, get 8 hours of sleep, go for a walk during lunch, unplug and unwind on the weekends, but if you have a violent student that is always sent back to class with a hug and a sucker how can your self-care work?

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Our leaders need to show that they actually consider us to be valuable. They should ask for our input about what would work best for our schools. They should give us time to work together and learn from one another. They should acknowledge that teachers need down time too and have district wide teacher field days. A little show of appreciation would go a long way.