Self Care for Educators
The What, Who, When, How, and Why
Agenda
- What is Self Care? What is Mindfulness?
- Purposes of Self Care
- Who Needs It?
- When to Use It?
- Some Types of Self Care and Mindfulness
- Activity
- Resources
Jadyn Harris
- 3rd year doctoral student in Curriculum & Instruction
- Graduate Teaching Assistant, EDUC 202: Social Justice, Schooling, & Society
- Youth Counselor: Cunningham Children's Home
Email: jharri10@illinois.edu
Website: jadynharris.com
Facebook: facebook.com/jadyn14
Twitter: @JadynHarris14
1. What is self care? What is mindfulness?
According to PsychCentral: "In a few words, self-care is the key to living a balanced life."
- What does that mean?
- It is NOT: checking emails at night, attending gatherings you don’t like, answering your phone during lunch/dinner, putting off healthcare.
- It IS: eating healthy, exercising, using relaxation exercises/meditation, GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP, spending enough time with your loved ones, LAUGHING, and...
- making time to do at least one relaxing and pleasurable activity EVERY DAY
According to mindful.org, "Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us."
- Do you have this "basic human ability?"
2. Why Practice Self Care/mindfulness? (Purposes)
- Consider what happens when you allow the doubts and "failures" of the day/week/year to add up and take over
- What do you do when you try something one time, and it "fails"? What do you tell your students when that happens? How can we apply the idea of "practice" to the idea of self care?
- What does your mindset - regardless of your field of employment - have to do with the mindset of the people around you?
3. Who needs self care/mindfulness?
- Anyone! Everyone!
- High stress workers
- A person who questions her life/job choices
- .....
4. When should we use self care/mindfulness?
- (see photos above)
- ...
- Who have you met who might be in need of self care or mindfulness
5. Some types of self care/mindfulness...
(student constructed)
6. Activity...
7. Sources
- mindful.org
- PsychCentral
- Edutopia: Teacher Wellness
- Pinterest for Mandala ideas
- ASMR videos (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response: see this Mashable article)
- This Spotify Meditation Playlist
- What other sources can you share?