Navigating the Holidays: A Teacher's Survival Guide
36 Navigating the Holidays- A Teacher's Survival Guide
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Teacher Burnout Podcast, where we explore the challenges of burnout for teachers and share practical strategies to support teacher well being. I'm your host Barb Flowers. If you're a teacher looking for ways to prevent burnout or an educational leader searching for strategies to support your team, this podcast is for you.
Let's dive in.
Hey everyone, welcome to the teacher burnout podcast and happy holidays to all of the dedicated educators out there. Today, I want to share some strategies that can be used to navigate this holiday season. But before we jump into those, I'm offering a free holiday self care challenge for educators that starts on December 11th, and I'll be sharing tips for how to take care of yourself through the holiday season. I put the link in my bio on Instagram, so go to Barb Flowers Coaching to join the challenge, or you can click the link in the show notes [00:01:00] to find that as well.
So in this, we'll have a Facebook group and you'll be getting different self care strategies. that are specific to educators that you can use through the month of December and we can get through this challenging time together. So let's jump into those strategies that can be used to navigate the holiday season.
Strategy number one, keep as many consistent routines as possible. The more that you're able to have consistent routines, the easier it is to keep behaviors under control. If you have fun activities planned, try to plan them for the end of the day where you can have your normal routine for the majority of the day.
Also, review expectations often to help keep students behaviors under control. As a new teacher, I did not understand the importance of being proactive by teaching and reteaching expectations throughout the year. But it is so helpful. The more I've learned about PBIS, positive behavior interventions and supports, And the more I've seen teachers doing it, you have to teach those routines and be [00:02:00] consistent teaching them over and over again, especially when times can be more challenging like the holidays where kids lose their focus.
Strategy number two, make sure to be inclusive of all holidays. Frequently, we see Christmas represented in schools, but we have to remember to include other December holiday celebrations. And December is a great time to learn about different cultures and holiday traditions. And remember that for people who celebrate, celebrate Christmas, it's our biggest holiday of the year.
But in certain cultures, the holiday they celebrate in December is not their biggest holiday. So for example, Ramadan is a huge holiday. Celebration for Muslims, and that's not celebrated in December. So you want to make sure that you're being inclusive of different holidays throughout the year. But December is just a great time to bring in different holidays as well.
And some ways that you could do this is by having students bring in pictures of their holiday traditions that they have from home. This is [00:03:00] a great way to have them share out and share what their holiday traditions look like and things they do in their culture. We've also had this done where we have students actually draw the picture and it just brings up great conversations and it allows students to just showcase what their family does to celebrate the holidays.
Strategy number three. Set realistic expectations for yourself and your students. I think often teachers feel the pressure to create this perfect holiday experience for their students. I remember as a first year teacher feeling this way, and I worked with two colleagues who were amazing, and they were married and just at different points in their life.
And they would do all this stuff for the holidays, and I felt like I needed to do it too. But looking back, you know, I didn't have the money as a brand new teacher to be spending on my students. And they had houses with two incomes, and they had been teaching longer, so they had higher salaries. And so my point is, I needed to be realistic about what I could spend on my [00:04:00] students.
And my students honestly would have been fine without gifts, but I just felt like I needed to do what the other teachers were doing in the building and so I set these unrealistic expectations for myself based on comparison from others. So just remember to set realistic expectations for what you can do for your students for the holidays.
Also remember to find a balance between festive fun and keeping consistent curriculum and learning activities. I think sometimes we try to keep such a fun environment that we lose so much instructional time before holiday breaks. And remember that students need that instruction, especially right before they're going to be taking a couple of weeks off of school.
So we need to use our instructional time as efficiently as possible. As teachers, we're always looking for more time, so don't use the holidays as a time to waste too much instructional time. Also, as teachers, you're trying to make the holidays a special time for your families. So you need to balance what's actually practical for you to be able to do in your [00:05:00] classroom and at home.
That's part of what brings on so much stress during the holidays is we try to do too much. Also, have the expectation that students are going to be more excited. They're going to have a harder time focusing. and behaviors are going to be ramped up. And this just helps you be proactive and not disappointed when you didn't get through everything you wanted or the day didn't go as planned.
Because you just need to remember that the kids are excited. And I'm not saying to set lower expectations, but when you set realistic expectations and you just remember what actually happens in the month of December. Then you don't get as disappointed when things don't go as planned. Many times, what makes us the most disappointed is our unrealistic expectations for ourselves and our students and those not being met.
So think about what that month is going to look like, what your lessons will look like and how you're going to stay consistent, but tailor them to the needs of your kids during this time. Strategy number four, practice stress reduction throughout the [00:06:00] day. Go for a walk on your lunch. You could walk the halls or go outside depending on where you live.
It just gives you a minute to have a break for your mind. It also allows you to get some exercise and get some steps too. So that's helpful. Do a mindful minute. There are some free headspace meditations on YouTube there that are really good and can help you take a quick breath and just reset. Also, if you have an Apple Watch, it'll take you through a minute meditation.
So you can do that on your watch if you have that or on your phone. Another thing you could do is go out for drinks or coffee with your colleagues after work. It's nice to have that Support and camaraderie from people who you know are going through that same experience that you are. I used to love going out for happy hour after school with my colleagues.
It was just, we would go out for like an hour after school on Friday sometimes and it was just a great time to connect with my colleagues and You know, get advice, vent about the week, talk about [00:07:00] struggles, challenges, whatever it was. But it was, it was great. And it was really, to me, an important thing that we did.
Also, remember, you can join my free challenge that starts December 11th. It'll give you a community of people to hear their challenges as well as strategies. for taking care of yourself that are specific to educators. So join that group and that will help you practice stress reduction as well. But remember, it's just important to keep consistent routines, be inclusive of all holidays that students celebrate, set realistic expectations and practice stress reduction throughout the day.
If you're struggling with burnout when like more help, I'd love to set up a free consultation to see if I could help go to my Instagram at Barb flowers, coaching to get more tips throughout the week and reach out to me there. If you're interested in coaching, thank you for listening to this episode. If you find this podcast helpful, please leave a review.
So others are able to find the podcast as well. I hope you have a great week and stay tuned for the next episode.[00:08:00]
