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Change can distort what success and failure look like and make the very definitions of success and failure take on different qualities and appearances. As a result, constant change may create uncertainty over how teachers ought to feel about the outcomes they experience in their classrooms. Teachers can find it very difficult to self-reflect in the aftermath of a disappointing school year or in the face of new changes. However, four helpful reflective practices will allow teachers to process past outcomes in a relatively painless way yet aspire to turn failures into future successes. For all the suggestions that follow, it is important that teachers talk to one another about the lists and goals they create for themselves—otherwise, these are just mandatory exercises done in isolation. Because some of these suggestions require writing and all of them could reasonably involve the writing process, it might be wise for teachers to invest in a journal so that when they self-reflect and set goals, they have a single dedicated place to record and revisit their thoughts.

1. Write down three disappointments and three successes from the school year a few weeks after the school year ends: Give yourself a few weeks of perspective before making this list. The end of the year often leaves teachers feeling raw and run-down, even when the school year has been successful or concluded on a positive note. But with a bit of perspective, teachers can self-reflect in a manner that is not unduly negative or triumphant. Even the best years of a career can be improved on. Even the most dreadful years have their highlights. Making these lists will allow you to chart a realistic path to improvement that is both helpful for the future and comforting as you process the disappointments along the way.

RIDE the WAVE

STRATEGY 3

Researchers Vicky Austin, Surya Shah, and Steven Muncer (2005) offer the following list of activities for coping with teacher stress. Place a check mark next to each activity you have done and an X next to each one you wish to do in the future.

_____ Being active in a social club

_____ Being busy

_____ Being by myself

_____ Bicycling

_____ Breathing deeply

_____ Crying

_____ Eating

_____ Exercising

_____ Jogging

_____ Listening to music

_____ Preparing for work

_____ Relaxing or lying down

_____ Running long distances

_____ Screaming

_____ Sleeping

_____ Taking a hot bath or shower

_____ Talking to a friend

_____ Throwing something

_____ Visiting friends

_____ Walking

Source: Adapted from Austin, V., Shah, S., & Muncer, S. (2005). Teacher stress and coping strategies used to reduce stress. Occupational Therapy International, 12(2), 63–80. Accessed at www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/oti.16 on July 17, 2019.

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/teacherefficacy for a free reproducible version of this feature box.

2. Write about your best moment and worst moment from the school year: Writing is a form of catharsis. It also triggers thought and reflection. Simply writing about an event—especially one that you have thought about over and over—can help you see the event in a different way. Writing it down in a straightforward manner can bring closure to a difficult moment and preserve moments that are worth remembering. This practice can provide a new, more nuanced layer of introspection, and sometimes, it brings clarity to the moment so that you better understand what made it so good or so bad. If nothing else, you will now better remember a moment that in the future might have eluded you.

3. Reflect on why the disappointments happened, and create an action plan for next school year: There are dozens of reasons why classes, units, or entire years sometimes fail to meet expectations. And there are different forms of disappointments. Was class rapport lacking? Was performance poor? Did you fail to get through all the curriculum, or did you mismanage your time? Was the school itself in crisis or suffering from a vacuum of leadership? Did your private life interfere with goals and outcomes? Objectively reflecting on the year’s letdowns allows you to emerge from the negative headspace you may have been in, and to look back and see where you were situated the entire time. The next part is intensely personal. How are you going to be different next year? Were there factors within your control that you can handle better next year? Again, part of self-care is self-reflection—being honest with yourself about successes and failures and using that process to inform your future efforts. In the context of self-care, honestly assessing yourself and creating an action plan moving forward need not be excessively complicated.

4. Pick four specific goals (one for each quarter) that you plan to implement next school year: It can sometimes be easy to rest on your laurels in teaching. Doing the same thing year after year is a staple of the profession. But even if every lesson of every day is a teaching masterpiece, intentionally changing things up a little will help your teaching outlook. There is so much curriculum widely available, and so much technology that can enhance and complement classroom instruction, that it would not be too difficult to commit to doing something different or new at least once a quarter. It can be big or small, a tweak or a complete revision. It might sound odd to suggest that teachers can achieve self-care by doing more work, especially during summer break, and this certainly qualifies as work. But if the aim of self-care is to help teachers feel better about their profession going forward, then goal setting can be a useful and fun enterprise; trying new things can supply elements of anticipation and excitement that a classroom might otherwise lack. Take the time to try something new—even if it means a little more effort. If you’re an English teacher, introduce to your students a book you’ve never taught before. If you’re a history teacher, create a new activity or assignment around a topic you’ve taught in the past. Whatever you do, you won’t regret it when the new year begins.