WEEKLY STAFF BULLETIN
April 1-5
WEEKLY STAFF BULLETIN
Good morning.
Welcome Back. I hope everyone had a fantastic, relaxing Spring Break! The week after Spring Break is never easy for students or staff. Some may feel rejuvenated and ready to tackle the rest of the year and state testing. I know many students will be excited to be back and ready for routines, structure and to be with adults and peers who care about them.
On Monday, I went to the track meet and watching the athletes do hurdles reminded me of the video below. Hurdles are never easy for middle school runners, especially at the first meet of the year. We saw many go down, but yet they never give up and they tackle the next hurdle not knowing whether they will get over or not, and they know many people are watching. In their mind, being seen as a quitter would look worse than loosing to a hurdle. Lets be like these girls in the video below, and have the courage to continue to be our best. Have a great week.
Aim High and Dream Big!!
Trish
What's Going This Week
This week is Social Studies Supervision.
Monday-
Tuesday- Track Meet at Batavia
Wednesday-EH- Focus Teams
Thursday-
Friday- SPIRIT DAY
Saturday- Track Meet @ NR
How Teachers Can Stay Motivated After Spring Break
Returning from spring break is not just hard on the students, but the teachers as well. Whether you used your spring break for work or for fun, it’s still hard to get back into the groove and return to that normal school schedule. While many of you are busy trying to motivate your students to get back on track, you are forgetting to think about your own needs. After you have come to realization that you only have a few months left until summer vacation, you must work to the best of your ability to get through to the end of the school year. Here are a few ways you can stay motivated after spring break.
Spring Break: Create Attainable Goals
There is nothing more satisfying then creating a goal and reaching it. Whether it’s to spring clean your classroom or get through standardized testing, make sure that you set a goal and stick to it. Once you achieve your goal, you will feel motivated to set another one and another one. Then, before you know it the school year will be over. Remember to start small then work your way up to more complex goals.
Keep Healthy
You may have overindulged a bit over spring break, and that’s OK, but now that it’s over it’s time to keep healthy. Eating the rights foods and getting enough exercise will help you stay focused at work and make you feel more energized to accomplish all of your goals.
Don’t Procrastinate
The first few weeks back from spring break you may feel sluggish and feel like your feet are dragging. Instead of procrastinating on the important things that you need to get down, move forward and get those things done. Excuses never get anybody anywhere, so stop making them and start checking off your to do list.
Keep Your Routine
If you are used to grading papers every Thursday after school, then continue to do so. Don’t change things up just because it’s getting close to the end of the school year. If this is what you are used to doing, then do it. You won’t even have to think twice about your daily routine and school will be over before you now it.
Get Enough Sleep
So maybe you had a couple of late nights over spring break and because of that you just can’t seem to get out of this funk. Sleep is everything, and if you want to stay focused on your job, then you need a lot of it. This means getting the proper amount of sleep each night. Do not stay up until midnight grading papers or scouring the Internet for new lesson ideas. Get the recommended amount of sleep each night and your body and mind will thank you for it.
Get Inspired
Think about what inspires you and makes you happy. Go outside on your lunch break and take a walk with one of your colleagues. Look at nature and listen to the birds chirping and the whistling of the wind. Go take that yoga class that you have always wanted to try or take that online class that you have been eyeing up. Find what inspires you to help you get through the rest of the school year happy.
Get Organized
If you weren’t organized already, then now is the time to get organized. Teaching around a mass amount of clutter is not healthy for you and your students. Clutter equals stress, and that is not motivating. When you are organized then you always know where is, because everything always has a proper place. You will much more motivated to work and teach when your classroom as well as your stuff is organized.
Be Mindful
Learn to live in the moment and use your mind to control your negative thoughts. This will help quite your mind and focus your thoughts. Take some time each day to just sit and breathe. This will help relax you and help you focus. By doing this each day for a few minutes you can increase your memory and attention span. When you are relaxed, then you are more apt to be motivated.
Reward Yourself
What’s a better motivator then a reward of something that you really want? Is there a vacation that you really want to go on in the summer? How about a new outfit or something for the house? Knowing that you have something to look forward to is a great motivator. Once you know your motivator, then you will work hard and push yourself to get it down so that you can receive your reward.
Stay Positive
Keeping a positive attitude towards your work and your students will only help motivate you to survive the school year. Approaching everything that you do in life with a positive attitude will help motivate you to do your best.
While it may have been hard to say goodbye to the beaches, sun and fun of spring break. Just remember that you only have a few more months of the school year left to go. Try and do use the strategies listed above to help you stay motivated until the end of the school year.
How you stay motivated to teach after spring break? Do you have any tips that you would like to share? Please comment in the section below, we would love to hear your thoughts.
Janelle Cox is an education writer who uses her experience and knowledge to provide creative and original writing in the field of education. Janelle holds a Master's of Science in Education from the State University of New York College at Buffalo. She is also the Elementary Education Expert for About.com, as well as a contributing writer to TeachHUB.com and TeachHUB Magazine. You can follow her at Twitter @Empoweringk6ed, or on Facebook at Empowering K6 Educators.