Don't Just Survive, Thrive

Book excerpt: Stay inspired and motivated with this ultimate teacher self-care action plan designed to help educators avoid workplace stress and burnout. Any educator will tell you it's no surprise that 50% of teachers leave education within their first five years. Being a teacher is deeply rewarding and inspiring, but keeping that big picture in mind is hard after long days, difficult students, and limited resources. On top of it all, teachers have the added burden of managing an entirely new digital learning environment. But burning out doesn't have to be your only option. Don't Just Survive, Thrive offers hardworking teachers a sustainable blueprint for becoming unshakeable at school with the power of self-care. Through mindfulness, connection, and creative art, you can work toward building a trauma-informed, self-aware strategy that fosters resilience and results in more engaged and effective teaching. Just five minutes a day or more of implementing the practical ideas in this book can result in powerful change. These strategies include: - Ten ways to practice mindfulness during recess duty - Guided journaling to celebrate what’s working in your classroom - Daily routines to keep you in the present moment - Quick practices for self-regulation during a conflict situation - Sentence stems to encourage internal dialogue and positive self-talk Whether you're a special education teacher, paraprofessional, speech pathologist, counselor, or any type of educator, this book offers a guide to becoming not only a social-emotional role model for students but a better, healthier teacher.