“A good life is like a weaving. Energy is created in the tension. The struggle, the pull and tug are everything.” — JOAN ERIKSON
R
eading this quote triggers a vi- sual for me of the pull and tug that educators face everyday. We are pulled between teach- ing curriculum and support-
ing the diverse needs of students. We feel a tug between politics and our desire to create learning spaces for our students to thrive in. Tere is tension between finding balance in our work and our personal lives. When I pause and allow my mind to settle, I am able to see the beauty in these struggles and take time to view these pulls and tugs as the magic needed to create a good life in teaching for myself and the students I have the privilege of educating. For me, the beauty is found in the work of weaving the threads of well- being into my own practice and those of the teachers I collaborate with. In the 2022-23 school year, I embarked on
a new teaching journey as a well-being facili- tator with my school board’s mental health and well-being team. Te vision for this role is to work with teachers, schools, and sur- rounding communities to champion student mental health by creating the conditions for social, emotional, physical, spiritual and cog- nitive well-being to flourish in the classroom and beyond. What became apparent early in my work was the old phrase, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” If educators are strug- gling with their own well-being, it is difficult to support their students. With this in mind, I became interested in looking at how to in- tegrate well-being teaching and learning into the classroom so that it not only benefits stu- dents but also the educators delivering this learning. Our team set out to research how this could be done.
➔ ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ FEDERATION OF ONTARIO 25
PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE COUSINS
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