Sunday 7 December 2014

Wellbeing

I am lucky. I have taught for over a decade and know what a privilege this is. I also know this because I have worked with the most inspirational people who continue to influence me as a teacher. Every day. They showed me what can be achieved in great schools with great teachers doing great things for great children. 

People matter.

In teaching, we have thousands of human interactions over the course of a day, and that can be exhilarating, rewarding and exhausting. When I started teaching I would recount what happened, the way I responded, the other way(s) I could/should have perhaps responded. And if I wasn't on top form, how much more difficult this would be.




We can through a very quick interaction, make or break someone else's day. 

This is why I believe wellbeing is number 1!

I was invited to speak with @MartynReah at #tlt14  on wellbeing for @cijane02 who has shared great work and thoughts on this. This was a chance to share some of the key areas I had been reading/thinking about.

I first got into this when I was invited to the Penn Resiliency programme training for 5 days. At this point I was resilient! What I didn't know was that this would provide a way of building the traits that children need to be resilient by enabling them to deconstruct the thought processes when things go wrong in order to find new coping mechanisms/ways forward. For doubters, I saw that programme change the lives of adults on it! I don't think we should have resilience lessons, no! But I do think these are really good strategies that can be used in mentoring/pastoral work or when the need arises. They were complemented by other techniques which contribute to wellbeing including savouring, mindfulness and being thankful. They worked. Did they work because they had people buy in? Probably in part! But they worked.

I've since read Happiness Hypothesis (Haidt) and more recently Flourish (Seligman). I think we have more explicit work to do than ever as life for children and adults becomes more demanding. The amount we believe we can do at the same time and 'fear of missing out' becomes a threat to mindfulness and wellbeing.



(7 ways to apply positive psychology, The Langley Group)

As 
@dylanwiliam said 'Love the one you're with'. We need to be looking out for each other. Taking the time to check in that people are ok...I mean really ok. If you work in one of these places, you're lucky too.        

So as we near the end of one year and look towards a new year, let's commit to wellbeing and our #teacher5aday by becoming a #wellbeingsuperhero and challenging yourself to


#connect, #exercise, #notice, #learn, #volunteer
See more @MartynReah and his blog http://martynreah.wordpress.com/2014/12/06/teacher5aday/

I look forward to reading your challenges and how you have (or have achieved) good level of wellbeing. I'm off for a walk!



                                                            

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