Preparing for the new school year is exciting and daunting all at once. It’s a time to reflect and set goals for the months ahead while also completing long to-do lists, establishing new routines, and managing stress. We know that creating a positive and encouraging learning environment for children is well worth the time, effort, and dedication, but we also know it takes a lot of energy, which can lead to burnout.

How do you prevent burnout and build meaningful self care into your routine?

Small steps and shifts in mindset can help make a difference over time. Remember, not everything needs to change all at once.

But, if you’re feeling overwhelmed in a moment, start with a grounding exercise. Pause, focus on your breath, and your why. Why did you want to become an educator? Why is this work important to you? Reminding ourselves of our core values can help find meaning in the work and take your mind out of the immediate overwhelm.

Reflecting on your purpose before the school year starts can act as a useful part of planning. What is the intention you want to return to throughout the year? What makes the work meaningful to you?

But intention alone can’t prevent burnout. In this article, we’ll explore steps to support you in building more care and space into your routine, embrace the messiness of the job, and allow for growth and mistakes. 

Reframing Social Emotional Learning

When it comes to CLASS, we focus on high-quality interactions because the research shows the benefit of social emotional learning for students. A strong social emotional foundation makes an impact by helping children learn how to regulate and express their feelings and improve interactions with their peers. This base also has a positive effect on other areas of growth, including academic ones.

An emphasis on social emotional learning benefits children but it can also help educators. When students are provided with appropriate social emotional support, they may be more engaged in learning. For educators, this could lead to fewer disruptions in the classroom.

Start by identifying small, intentional moments you can build into your daily routine for the year ahead. Maybe this takes the form of greeting each student as they arrive in the morning or asking them to talk about how they are feeling that day.

Routine is beneficial for children and educators alike. As educators, it can be tempting to give your all for the students and focus on what will help them grow emotionally and academically. But consider reframing that narrative. Helping yourself is a way to help your students. You can’t help your students if you have nothing left to give.

Modeling Authenticity and Creating Positive Relationships

Building positive relationships takes energy and intentionality, and it takes even more energy when you feel the need to present perfection at all times. But that mindset isn’t realistic. The Positive Relationships dimension in CLASS doesn’t mean only showing a positive face to students. Consider a key element in maintaining positive relationships. It’s not about perfection but rather being able to show up as you are, whether you are having a good or bad day.

Creating a space where everyone feels empowered to show up authentically is one step in fostering positive relationships. But what does it mean to show up authentically? If there’s something going on that is bringing down your mood, don’t feel the need to pretend as if nothing is wrong. Admitting to hard times serves as a model for emotional regulation. It teaches children how to be aware of and describe their own emotions.

What ways can you bring through authenticity in building positive relationships? Maybe being bubbly and outgoing is not natural to you. But there are other ways to express enthusiasm and care for students. Think about how to be honest in a way that works for you instead of trying to fit yourself into a mold of what you think you're supposed to be.

Allowing for Flexibility and Practicing Adaptability

The beginning of a school year presents an opportunity to reset and test new techniques for classroom management. But the start of the year isn’t the only time for change. Taking a flexible approach to your work is something that can be practiced throughout the year and on a daily basis.

In practice, this can mean changing your original plan for the day depending on what students are engaging with and responding to. For example, maybe you planned a group activity for an hour but students aren’t engaged. Instead, cap the activity at twenty minutes and build in the necessary interactions during one-on-one time at stations throughout the room. Or perhaps students are particularly interested in the lesson plan in a given week. What would it look like to extend that lesson into the following week and dive deeper into the subject?

Trying to follow plans to the letter can mean fighting against the mood or interests of the class. Remember to keep yourself grounded in your goals. Does changing the lesson plan still serve the interest and learning of your students? If yes, then consider adapting!

Here’s a practical tip: Keep a notebook or journal throughout the school year to jot down quick notes about how certain activities went. Was something a huge hit? Did something not go over well? Did you have to make a change to make a lesson work better? With a year’s worth of reflections and ideas, you can use the period before the new school year reviewing your notes from the previous year to help plan for the year ahead.

Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference

If nothing else, remember that one small change can make a big difference, especially if you build it into your daily routine. Focusing on wellbeing doesn’t mean doing everything all at once. Pick a method or two that speak to you and start there. Then, using that flexibility, leave whatever doesn’t work and keep building on what does.

Find additional resources below and explore tools to make this next school year a success: