Читать книгу Riding the Wave - Jeremy S. Adams - Страница 22

Teaching has never been easy. Standing in front of dozens of young people for hours every single day can be challenging even in the most stable and supportive of environments. And sadly, most teachers feel that their jobs are more stressful in 2020 than they were in 2010. Everything is faster—the trends, the technology, the unpredictable disruptions to the profession itself—which adds to teachers’ difficulty in maintaining a positive, productive frame of mind. Irrespective of the reasons for this shift in attitude and morale, it is no longer an option for schools to hope that teachers “get their minds right” or “find a happy place” on their own. In service professions such as teaching, there is sometimes a stigma associated with considering anyone besides those being serviced. But schools are communities, and while students are correctly the focal point, teachers should never hesitate to acknowledge their own limitations or needs as they relate to their roles within those communities. As long as we can count on constant change and reform, teacher self-care will remain a relevant and necessary topic in education. It must feature just as prominently in our professional conversations as pedagogy, credentialing, and technological trends do.

This chapter has explained why taking self-care seriously is important to maintaining the integrity of the teaching profession. In the next chapter, we’ll learn a variety of self-care strategies teachers can use inside and outside of school. These strategies will help teachers maintain a sense of control over their health and career and prepare themselves each day for whatever the classroom has in store.