5 Tips to Reduce Beginning of the School Year Stress
Two stressors for teachers before the first day of school are the feeling of time scarcity and the feeling that time is being wasted with trainings and meetings that don’t apply to them.
With that in mind, here are a few tips to reduce beginning of the school year overwhelm.
Tip 1: Write down everything to complete before the first day of school
Do not let these tasks live in your head. Get it all down on paper.
Tip 2: Shorten that list
We feel time scarcity when there’s too much on our plate. Edit down your list with the following questions:
Does this need to be done by me?
Does this absolutely need to be done before the first day of school?
Does this need to be done at all?
If the answer is no to any of the above, remove the task from your list.
Tip 3: Block out chunks of time to complete specific tasks
When you know exactly when you’re doing what, you can more easily answer that stressful question, “How will I get it all done?”
Tip 4: Get curious about which meetings and trainings you could opt out of - Then ask to see if it would be possible.
If a training is not relevant to your position or your current expertise, ask an administrator or coach to be exempt. Use your list of essential tasks to justify time away from certain meetings.
For administrators reading and wanting to support teacher wellbeing at the top of the year: Collaborate with teachers to make sure they find meetings and trainings relevant to their professional growth; Strive to compromise with teachers if they feel their task list is more pressing than a specific training.
Tip 5: Remind yourself you do have time
The first day of school isn’t the end of the line, even though it can feel like a hard deadline. You will have plenty of time to switch things up, make things better, and grow as the year goes on. In other words, give yourself some grace.
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Share your thoughts with us! Is there anything you would add that helps you reduce stress at the beginning of the school year?
Let us know in the comments below! It can help other educators reading.
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