It happens every year, doesn’t it? I wish I would have done a journal entry documenting how I felt each year with back-to-school season.
I only remember two things:
- The year post-pandemic where I walked into the classroom with anxiety and depression.
- Each year, I have experienced a mixture of mild anxiety, excited anticipation, fear, and self-doubt.
Oh yes, you bet this teacher often faces self-doubt. However, I have learned to recognize that everything that spins off that self-doubt is indeed an intrusive thought. Personally, my self-doubts spins from fear of not being able to continue to follow my self-care routines once the school year kicks-in.
So, as you can tell, this won’t be your regular “here are some ideas to start your school year” blog post, and I have done those, but this post will be more of an honest short reflection with practical tips about what I often must overcome as I get back to school.
I have always believed that sharing may help just one person, and simply knowing my imperfect writing and emotions can help someone, fills my heart with gratitude for being able to do so.
Back-to-School Resources
However, I will not leave you hanging if you are looking for guidance and back-to-school ideas for the language classroom. Here are some past blog posts and a video that share what I do and how I prepare for those first days.
Blog posts with free resources & tips for back-to-school in language classes:
- Connections Through Hexagonal PQAs: An Activity for BTW & Beyond
- Tips to Save Time & Energy in Your Spanish Classes, Part 1
- Why I Ditched my Long Spanish Class Syllabus & How I Started Day One of My School Year
- Free Posters with Purpose for Your Spanish Classes
- Old School Classroom Management in Spanish Class
But also...Let's Kick the Guilt Out
It is normal for educators not to want to do any work during the summer, nor should they have to, unless it truly brings them joy, peace, and/or happiness. Yet, if a teacher decides to not do any work during the summer, why is it that nine times out of ten, they end up experiencing anxiety and guilt as the big BTS day approaches?
I am not going to say much about this because I have shared about it plenty in Instagram over the years. Instead, I am sharing the following image to sum it up.
What Are You Feeling Right Now?
Now, let’s get back to the conversation.
Seriously, as you start to see the Target ads, what emotions come to mind?
I tell you what I feel, I feel scared.
Scared that I did not establish new self-care systems strongly enough to sustain me throughout the year because I am such a workaholic and I love what I do.
It is simple to go to the gym and eat healthy when we don’t have all the dozens of school tabs open in our brains.
It feels great to feel the sun shining on you while you are taking your pet for a walk or when you are out with friends.
I don’t want to loose my ability to meet a special friend for brunch or a beach outing.
I am scared of losing that.
I am also scared of losing sleep. I am, by nature, a night owl, and during school days, I struggle with bed time routines, but I am working on it and am not giving up. Sleep is so important to us. I have always knowns this, but I had an epiphany about it this summer. Our health depends on a good night’s sleep.
You know that else depends on it? How we show up for my students.
When we are sleep-deprived, we are more reactive and less patient with the unexpected situations that may occur inside our classrooms and schools. I can vouch for that as our cognitive ability deeply diminishes when we do not sleep well.
Here is a video that was an eye opener for me, by Dr. Marian Rojas Estapé, it is in Spanish but English subtitles can be activated.
Here is What I am Doing This Year
This year, I am making major changes to my classroom that I will gladly report about in the far future. But before doing any of that, I am acknowledging my fear and self-doubts and putting them aside by making a plan and fighting with myself to commit to it.
I have thought really thought about this.
I am calling them MY TEACHER COMMANDMENTS OF SELF-CARE, and they are:
- You will make time for joy and play in your classroom and your personal life daily and keep a weekly log to document.
- This one is perhaps my easiest one to meet, yet an important one.
- You will refill your water bottles every morning and attempt to drink them all before you go home.
- Water is life! I am bringing home with me several of the many bottles I own and will keep myself on track that way. I will divide the bottles by period and share my goal with my students so they can help me stay on track.
- You will not stay in the building past 4:00 PM unless your other teacher duties or responsibilities demand it.
- I cannot afford to this since I purchased a yearly gym membership and my doctoral work is always waiting for me at home.
- You will safeguard your health by stocking your classroom’s mini fridge with healthy snacks and going to the gym at least four days a week.
- I did not have fridge so I purchase one, and I will be buying health on-the-go snacks to I don’t have to starve myself or run to junk food in the afternoon. I can witness the fact that the body does keep the score.
- You will commit to strengthening your cognitive restoration time and quality of rest through sleep by going to sleep no later than 11 pm on Sunday – Friday.
- This is going to be the hardest one for me, but I purchased a magnificent pillow mist. I am going to need all the help I can get on this one. When I experience severe anxiety post-COVID, I managed to regulate my sleeping cycle for months to avoid anxiety attacks, but once I started experiencing less and less anxiety, I went back to my old ways (not proud).
- You will practice saying NO to people as often as necessary by declining extra duties that are not in alignment with your passion.
- I purchased this amazing book by Grace Stevens called Beat Teacher Burnout with Better Boundaries The Secret to Thriving in Teaching Without Sacrificing Your Personal Life. It is FREE on Kindle as of today (July 24, 2024). It has scripts and ideas to safeguard your time by saying NO. I am ready to practice what I have learned!
Of course, I will not be able to stick to this alone, so I am sharing it with my family, my students, and my close friends at school. Also, I am grateful to have my amazing therapist to help me along the way.
As you can see, I actually took the time to write these down and have taken steps to walk in the right direction. It is great to think about things but without writing these down, I lessen my chances of staying on track.
I also am walking into this acknowledging that I am going to miss the mark, but I simply need to brush it up and keep trying as many times as necessary.
As people often say, el que persevera, alcanza.
I want to invite you to acknowledge your feelings, reflect on what is triggering them, and make a plan to set yourself up for mental health success this year.
Remember, we must always believe that best is yet to come.
Finally, I want to share with you my favorite podcast episode collaboration of the year. It took place during the summer. It was as conversation I had with my dear friends, Meredith White and Claudia Elliott, at the Growing with Proficiency Podcast. The name of the episode is CAN TEACHING REMAIN JOYFUL?
Grab your favorite drink, and enjoy our conversation.
May you have the best back-to-school season yet. Son mis mejores deseos para ti.