6 Amazing Life Hacks For Teachers

Picture Credit:  Yuri Arcurs

“Without Teachers, Life would have no CLASS!”

This quote was amazing to read on the internet. It hit me and I really liked it.

Everyone loves to live their life to their fullest and more importantly with a particular standard of living. What more can one ask for.

The life of a teacher seems to be loaded with a lot of work. Planning is an integral part of the job. A lot of success depends on proper planning. Without planning, the educator is not able to implement things and hence failures occur.

‘Failure is DELAY, not DEFEAT.’-Denis Waitley

Working at home then going for work then planning and again repeating the same seems monotonous. So a change is required for the educators.

“Daily timetables, to-do-lists-, completing curriculum, checking notebooks, preparing assessments, correcting and grading assessments, dealing with parents, communicating with the siblings of the students, handling peer pressure in the staff room, extending a helping hand to a colleague, following instructions given by the leader and taking the lead where necessary, coordinating with other teachers, and collaborating with the students, reaching the class on time and taking part in co-curricular activities!”

OH! All This to be done by one single individual!

It definitely takes its toll.

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes…including you.”-Anne Lamott

A lot of learning is required before you teach. Learning is not only related to your subject it is also related to the aspects of teaching. After learning it is time to act and then to reboot for some time to gain back the life.

Read on how you do it-

1 1. Food Habits:

Health is the primal factor before you set out to achieve something. If you are weak or lethargic, the brain will not allow your mind to function. Healthy food and nutritional diet are very important for all human beings.

Research says that healthy diet is a good investment in the self for the future.

Schools generally begin with an early morning routine. The educators have to rush about doing their early morning chores and most of them reach school on an empty stomach.

After a lot of activity when you calm down for sometime without proper nutrients in your body, it results in fatigue.

Before leaving the home early morning, make it a point to eat something so that you have the energy to walk through at least half a day before you have a snack for yourself.

Check out the link on how you can manage your diet and live a healthy life-

https://www.weareteachers.com/teacher-power-foods/

   

    2. Out of Internet on Sundays

The internet and gadgets are consuming our valuable ‘ME TIME’. Notifications keep us on an alert throughout the day. We have framed a habit of checking the phone again and again to read the messages or to simply scroll down the screen.

We are losing on high quality time. We are simply wasting the time. No message is as important as your ‘ME TIME’.

On an average, research suggests that a user clicks, taps of switches on the phone around 2617 times. For the more frequent users or addicts the time could be doubled or even more. It means that around 1 million users are spending 2 hours 45 minutes on the phone every day. Multiply the time to see how much time we are spending by just scrolling the screen or reading messages. Divide it by the value that time has generated for us.

If you want to understand it better, try to estimate the revenue that amount of time generated for you in terms of money or quality time you could have spent with friends and family or utilise it to do something fruitful.

You will realise that the return on this investment was not proportionate to the earnings.

So every Sunday keep the internet switched off for long period of times. Just switch it on once or twice a day to check out on important messages. You will see the difference in your mood and your own behaviour.

Keeping the internet off for long hours on Sunday has really helped me reboot for the coming week. I found myself to be more productive because I started investing my time in planning and refuelling myself for the upcoming week.

    3. Chat with colleagues

While going through the daily routine, take out time to chat with the colleagues without a pen or paper in the hand. These short five minute complete breaks are very good to rejuvenate yourself and bring you back completely to life. It invigorates you.

Smile, talk, laugh, share a joke, appreciate, praise or express gratitude for something but do it genuinely during a busy day.

Discuss a recipe of your favourite dish, or discuss a kitchen disaster, talk about the mischief of a child or how another teacher used praised to make the child learn better.

There are millions of ways which can be used to distract your mind from the pressures of work and the deadlines which are looming on your head.

     4. Strong Coffee or Dark Chocolate

Still sometimes life gets too much. Strong or dark coffee at times really brings up your energy level. It makes you more enthusiastic especially when you shut down everything and drink it sip by sip.

Black coffee is known to be a powerhouse of antioxidants. It contains manganese and potassium along with Vitamin B2, B3 and B5.

As advised you should have it daily to reduce the risk of heart diseases and diabetes. But if you have during breaks it will help you to get back on your two feet as early as possible.

   

    5. Choose an uncomfortable task

Another way to help your mind spring back to life is to choose an uncomfortable task. Try to do something which you are not comfortable with.

I used to go to the Art Room and try to help the art teacher take her class. In this way I learnt a few colouring skills and in return helped her out with the large number of children.

On another occasion I went to the Computer Lab to hone up my Microsoft Excel skills. I did all this by cutting on my correction time. I put extra strain on my time and in the process learnt time management skills.

The aim is to jump out of the comfort zone at times so that you do not make your daily life a routine which is taken for granted.

    

     No Learning Day

A lot of information is available at the touch of a screen. Within seconds you can become a scholar from an average person. Information can be gathered and consumed twenty four hours a day.

Knowledge and learning is the mantra for success.

Agreed!

But too much information and learning results in over thinking and procrastination. It stops you from taking action because your mind is involved in only processing the information.

Hence do not read any material on a fixed day of the week. Limit the podcasts that you view, do not read every quote that scrolls down your screen.

Just sit and let your mind throwback all the learning that you have done in a week.

You will find wonderful ideas popping out and quotes flowing by your conscious mind.

Now write them down as they appear in your thoughts to be read later on in the day.

This practice actually penetrates what you have learnt from your mind into the subconscious mind and ultimately pushes you to take action.

Without action learning is not of any value.

To Conclude-

Teaching is an interesting and a profession for the passionate people. Some educators make it sound boring and monotonous but it is not. Find the spark in this profession.

It is one of the best professions in the world and will continue to be.

Stay safe and stay healthy.

Keep enjoying your profession!

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