orchestra
Rekindling the Joy of Teaching Through Prioritizing Self-Care Kristen Flak-Solom, WMEA State Chair, Orchestra
The last three years of teaching have been a whirlwind of craziness and con- stant change. More demands have been placed on educators than ever before, and it has taken a toll on our well-be-
ing. I personally felt the effects of burnout and have been on a journey to regain my joy of teaching. Prioritizing self-care, ef- ficiently conquering administrative tasks, and focusing on passion projects have helped me survive and find joy with stu- dents once more.
Self-Care
As teachers, we often put others before our- selves. We come home exhausted from long days at school and feel we must do more school work. To combat burnout, I needed to learn to put myself first. If I wanted to show up each day full of energy and excited to work with students, I needed to take time to recharge and balance my work and my personal life.
Self-care looks different for everyone. For me, it involves exercising daily and taking at least an hour every night for a relaxing activity such as reading a book, watching TV, or working on a craft project. I aim to finish my lesson plans by Friday afternoon so I don’t have to think about school over the weekend. I also enjoy getting into na- ture as much as possible in my free time. Many of my non-school hobbies purpose- fully have nothing to do with music, but I enjoy participating in the local community orchestra to socialize with others outside of school.
Through my journey of self-care, I have learned to prioritize and value my time. I think more carefully about the type of ac- tivities I agree to do and if it will bring me joy or stress. I realized having something
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every night after school wasn’t working for me anymore. While setting boundaries can be uncomfortable at first, it is a necessary step to ensure your body and mind have time to reset for the next day.
Finally, at the worst of my burnout, it was easy to get stuck in a spiral of negativity. To change my gloomy outlook, I woke up each morning and wrote in a gratitude journal. This helped me show up for school feeling calmer, more positive and ready to face the challenges of the day. It also prevented me from becoming irritable when things didn’t go as planned. I highly recommend the books The Self-Healer’s Journal: A 90-Day Guided Journal for a Self-Loving, Soulfully Manifested and Grateful-As-Hell Life by Rachel Havekost or A Music Teacher’s Gratitude Journal: Creative Prompts to Nurture Joy, Reduce Stress, and Reflect on Your Teaching by Krista Hart as resources to start journaling.
Conquering the “To-Do List”
Some days I feel I do more secretarial tasks than teaching. Moving equipment, entering grades, emailing families, planning concert logistics, creating schedules, paying bills - the list goes on! While these tasks are necessary, they are not my main interest nor the reason I went into teaching.
I created priority lists to help ease my anxi- ety over the number of tasks needing to get done. Each week I sat down and prioritized my to-do list from most important, must do right away to tasks I could wait to complete. I planned ahead and made sure I left plenty of time to meet deadlines so I didn’t feel stressed. This allowed me to spread out my tasks over a longer period of time and not feel the urgent need to take work home.
Finally, the pandemic forced me to con- sider what tasks were truly necessary. I considered how I could restructure my work more efficiently and where I could cut corners to save time. I reused old lesson
plans, eliminated a concert, and found other ways to reduce stress in my workload. I also considered students and families in these decisions and realized they were feeling overwhelmed too. Scaling back would be good for everyone.
Passion Projects
The final step in rediscovering my joy of teaching was considering what brought me happiness in the classroom. I wanted to have fun, connect with students more, and feel engaged in what I was teaching. Pandemic teaching made it difficult to connect with students, and taking time to laugh with students and have fun has been important on the journey back to teaching in a more normal setting.
I also realized I feel most passionate about teaching when trying something new. Each year, I try to pick one new project to work on with students. This could be creating a new CMP plan for a new piece of music, redeveloping the technique curriculum for a specific unit or grade level, bringing in a guest artist, trying out a new technology tool, etc. My latest passion project involves putting on an annual creativity concert where students showcase soundscapes and compositions they made individually or in small groups.
In summary, finding the joy in teaching again requires some reflection and repri- oritization. What is making you happy and what needs to change? Are you taking care of yourself first or do you need to recon- sider priorities? The road back to joy can take some time, but I encourage you to start as it will lead to better outcomes for both you and the students you teach.
Kristen Flak-Solom is a grades 4-8 orchestra teacher in the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District.
Email:
kflak-solom@mcpasd.k12.wi.us
January 2023
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