1.Reflect on what you achieved One of the challenges of working in schools is we can’t necessarily see what we have achieved each day. Take a few moments to review how you used your time today. Clean up for a fresh start tomorrow Clutter, physical and virtual, takes a surprising toll on your energy. Tidy…
Avoid Defensiveness With Tricky Parents
Parents who are defensive of their child can be tricky to manage. Dealing with defensive reactions is difficult and often stressful. When people are defensive, they are often at their worst. They quickly become adversarial, irrational, hostile and angry. Through making subtle adjustments to our approach by anticipating and endeavoring to avoid a defensive reaction…
What Will YOUR Students Remember?
Think back to who your favourite teacher was when YOU were a student. Now think about WHY you chose that particular teacher. The reason almost invariably comes back to the way that particular teacher made you feel. “I remember a teacher who made me feel welcome, safe and important. She saw something special in me.”…
Relationships Are Important in Managing Student Behaviour
I’ve often heard the statement ‘students don’t learn from people they don’t like!’ In ‘Kids These Days’, author and psychologist Jody Carrington says, “Kids won’t learn from people who they think don’t like them.” This statement resonates with me and is consistent with behaviour management guru Bill Rogers’ position that the best teachers are warm-demanding….
Positive Parent Information Sessions
Developing a trusting partnership between the school and the home not only benefits the student but can reduce stress on school staff. Parents who trust teachers and the staff of the school are far more likely to give the school the benefit of the doubt and be more forgiving of a mistake. Where trust is…
Making the Most of 2024
It’s relatively easy to start the year feeling refreshed and recharged and ready for the year ahead. It’s a little more difficult to maintain that energy level throughout the year. A little planning now can set up 2024 as your best year yet! To make 2024 better than last year we need both reflection and…
Start Well – Finish Well
Working in schools can be demanding. Each year it seems that more is expected of you than ever before. Competing demands result in having too much to do and not enough time to do it. It is the cumulative effect of workload and insidious day-to-day sources of stress and not the less frequent intense sources…
Distract Yourself to Reduce Anxious Thoughts
Almost everyone feels anxious at some point in their lives. For some people, anxiety occurs regularly, even daily. Research has shown that distracting yourself from feelings of anxiety can help to curb them. Actively distracting yourself takes your mind off of the anxiety you are experiencing. For this technique to be most effective, you need…
Finish Strong
The final term of the school year is a crazy time in schools. End of year reporting, class allocations, timetabling, budgets and planning for next year swamp us at a time when our energies are low and many of us feel we are running on empty. By the end of the year we are more likely to…
Take the Initiative This World Teachers’ Day
Working in schools can be tough and demanding. Much of the work that staff in schools do, goes unrecognised. It can take years before we see the impact that we have had. The lack of respect for the work of staff in schools and the impact they have, has contributed to increased staff turnover and…