You also need good energy for professional learning so that you are able to stay on top of both expectations and the latest research with regard to optimal teaching and learning.
Nurturing and harvesting energy so that you have an optimal amount changes from time to time depending on your personal commitments, interests, and needs. That's why energy management is a topic you need to explore anew each school year.
I've been thinking a lot about this as I will to achieve a few new goals this school year. For starters, I'm working to slow down my efforts in the classroom in order to build a more culturally responsive, brain-friendly teaching/learning environment. This takes patience, and patience demands focused, alert energy--the kind of energy that allows you to stop and think as well as speak quietly and act lovingly when a young child is upset.
Right routines that maximize energy require that you think about the following questions:
- What's my "people time" quotient? Teaching is an intense people-time profession since you have countless interactions with many, many people a day. There are ways that you can manage this people-time quotient to maximize energy rather than minimize it. You can't be all things to all people, so this management begins with focusing most on your teaching team, students, and their families.
- What do I do to replenish and nurture optimal energy via good sleep, nutrition, exercise, and positive non-teaching events that make us more interesting, relaxed, and able to do our jobs well? All school and no play makes teachers dull, but too much play and too little school makes teachers unprepared so it's critical to find the right balance here.
- What is a positive weekly routine, and what do I do to stick to that routine?
As the school year begins, educators everywhere are revisiting weekly routines, ways to optimize energy, and people-time quotients so they can do their jobs well. This is an important focus with regard to teaching well.
