Are you counting down the hours to the end of term and the summer holidays? Are you drinking stronger coffee, eating more chocolate, having an extra glass of wine, or finding your bedtime is getting earlier and earlier? You could be suffering from end of year burnout!
We’ve pulled together a few tips to help push through to the end of the year, and even look forward to the start of the next one!
1. Celebrate Your Wins – no matter how small
Rather than counting down the days, write a list of all your successes for the year. Celebrate your growth and make a written list, a blog post, or even a LinkedIn or Facebook post listing: at least 5 things that you’ve done well this year, a few new things you’ve tried, and changes you’ve made in your classroom (possibly driven by the pandemic!). Why not tag a few colleagues or teacher friends in your post to keep the conversation going and spread the positivity?
2. Practice a Positive Mindset
When you walk into the staff room, enter with a smile! Chat with colleagues and share something positive about this year. Encourage colleagues to talk about a successful lesson or a bright moment in their year. You’ll find both of you will return to your classes feeling more upbeat.
3. Engage and encourage your students’ hopes and dreams
Ask your students what they hope for in the future? What do they want for themselves and their family? What are their career aspirations? Let the class talk in small groups or as a total class, and ask them to write down their thoughts and be ready to share them. Research shows that, in terms of learning, the aspirations of students really matter. As a teacher you’ll find it valuable to learn what they think and feel about their future, you can help them plan and understand how to turn their dreams into reality.
This exercise should help you remember that you went into education to make students’ lives better and help them make a positive impact on the world.
4. Talk about the summer.
It’s likely that students will want to talk about the summer and they’re probably split into three groups on how they feel about the break. There will be those can’t wait to get to summer and make the most of it, those who are looking forward to specific things, and those who may be dreading the summer for a number of reasons. Giving your students a chance to talk about the summer, as a class or in small groups, will help them, and help you. You could ask students to raise their hands if they’re really looking forward to the summer, sort of or not really, or not looking forward to it. Next, split them into three groups so they can share their thoughts on why they are or aren’t looking forward to the summer break. Visit each group as they spend time talking, and then have an overall class sharing. Finally, you can also talk about how you feel about the summer, as you think appropriate.
Now when the summer holidays finally arrive you can focus on planning things for yourself. It’s great to have something to look forward to which has nothing to do with school and therefore allows you to feel like a human again! Relax and enjoy the break!