Often, staff rapport in schools can be neglected due to short breaks and busy schedules. Sometimes teachers are too busy trying to get everything done that thinking about their well-being is not on their agenda. However, happier teachers lead to happier schools. Here are some suggestions of how to create a more positive atmosphere amongst staff.
Sign up for a free health and well-being seminar
Irish teachers, check out the free seminars on pdst.ie. Teachers can sign up for these courses at their local education centre free of charge. For those of you who can't attend, the PDST has also shared the booklets that accompany these workshops.
Make a compliment box for your staff room
This is a lovely thing to do with the children in your class but it also works really well with staff. I set up a compliment box in our staff room last year and it worked a treat. Here's how to do it:
1. Get an old box, stick a "Compliment Box" label on it and write some ideas of sentence starters on it like "Remember that time when...." "I really like how you..." "I admire the way you..."
2.Put envelopes (one for each staff member) in the box along with slips of paper, markers, pens, pencils and scissors.
3. Send an email with instructions that the box will be in the staff room the following Monday for a week. They can write compliments for as many staff as they like. Under no circumstances is anybody allowed to read what is already in somebody else's envelope.
4. On Friday afternoon, seal the envelopes and deliver them to the teachers.
Lots of people came to me last year and said that it really gave them a lift. The things that were written in the envelopes were a mixture of heartfelt messages from close colleagues, surprise compliments from mystery staff members and some silly memories and jokes thrown in for good measure.
Try this 30 day happy teacher challenge from Presto Plans
Hop over to the blog to download this printable for free. It includes things to minimise your own stress levels and to be nice to your colleagues!
Make a staff meeting more sociable: Let them eat cake!
Ask staff to bring in some treats to share on an INSET day or just before a staff meeting and spend 20 minutes indulging and having a chat. The sugar hit can really cheer people up, particularly if the meeting is at the end of a school day.
Count down:
In my school we sometimes put countdowns on the board in the staff room - usually to the next long weekend / holiday! Currently there's a "... days until the next Game of Thrones" episode. It's very satisfying watching the numbers get lower and lower and can be a good starting point for conversations between staff who don't know each other very well.
Share those memes!
Did you see a blog post / meme about teaching that gave you a laugh? Why not print it off and stick it on the staff board? Somebody else might appreciate it!
And remember... don't just think it, say it!
Did you just walk past a beautiful display of children's work? Turn back and tell the teacher (and students) what you think of it. Did you hear a student say something positive about what they were doing in class? Tell the teacher how enthusiastic they were.
Hi all,
Last week I posted about some mindfulness techniques. One that the children really enjoyed was making "worry monsters." I cut out a mouth shape from some inside-out cereal boxes, left out lots of materials and let the children at it! Then they wrote down their worries and "fed" them to the monsters. I'll give some time over the coming weeks for the children to write more worries if they wish.
I unintentionally timed it very well because they look like they're part of the Hallowe'en decor! Delighted!
Bring on the spooky season!
Hi all,
My current unit of inquiry is about keeping our bodies and minds healthy. We have done lots of inquiry into keeping our bodies healthy and we are going to focus on our minds in the coming weeks. Here are some of the techniques we are going to try out.
INTRODUCING MINDFULNESS:
I was wondering how to introduce the concept of mindfulness to children. An classmate of mine from university suggested starting with a bottle of water and glitter. Shake it up and explain that this is what our mind is like when it is full of thoughts - really all over the place. Then allow the bottle to have some time to settle and watch as the water clears and the glitter settles. It's a very simple and effective analogy. If you want to be super fancy, follow this recipe for a mason jar version.
MEDITATION/FOCUS TIME:
Thanks to Ms Forde's Classroom's lovely blog post, I've now ordered Mindfulness Matters' "The Zone" resource. The download hasn't worked yet but I'm hoping to get that sorted ASAP. I am really looking forward to trying it out with the children.
YOGA/MINDFUL MOVING:
We're going to do some Yoga as mindful moving. I don't know a lot about yoga. I've used videos on YouTube in the past but I wanted something that I would be able to teach myself. I decided to purchase this yoga resource made by Dancing into First for $4 on TPT. It has instructions for 20 different poses, written in easy to follow language (Good for teacher as well as students!!) and each pose has a child-friendly name such as "dog," "plane" or "tree."
MINDFULNESS THROUGH ART:
A thoughtful friend of mine got me a book entitled, "Art for Mindfulness: Geometrics." It's basically an adult colouring book - right down my alley! I found lots of "mandala" colouring sheets available to download for free from Education.com. You'll need to create a free account to download them. It's worth your time as there are lots of great free resources on there!
SENSORY BALLOONS:
Creative Playhouse has a wonderful post on how to make child-friendly sensory balloons which work similarly to stress balls. Here you can see how they can be made with different household materials. The children can then play with them and feel the different textures, describe how they feel and discuss which ones they prefer.
MINDFUL EATING:
Mindful eating is another area that could be discovered. As my school has a very strong healthy eating policy, perhaps we will do this with fruit. The idea is to get the children to really focus on the process and sensations associated with eating. The Guardian has a free PDF with guiding questions about mindfully eating chocolate. Again, you need to sign up for free to download it.
RECOGNISING EMOTIONS:
We will focus on recognising different feelings and finding strategies to control negative feelings and help us to calm down. Last year we had a worry box in the classroom. There the children could anonymously write down their worries and then "send them away!" I also encouraged the children to make their own worry box to keep by their bed. I absolutely LOVE Kristina Marcelli's take on this where she made a worry monster who "eats" the worries.
I came across the resource pack, "A Volcano in My Tummy" while doing some work as a substitute learning support/resource teacher a few years back. Brown University have shared a preview of the book. You can download it for free here. I really like the outline of the person where the children draw/write what happens to their body when they get angry. More of that resource pack has been shared here.
So there you have it! If you have any other mindfulness resources/ideas to share, please comment below!
