School has always been a hard place for teachers, but these days? WOW. It’s a real emotional rollercoaster. I am honored that Lindsay Titus is guest blogging this week to share all about teacher mindset. These are NOT cookie cutter techniques, but fresh strategies to help make your well-being front and center this school year.
Lindsay Titus is a K-12 Behavior Specialist with a license in behavior analysis. As an educator of 15 years, Lindsay coaches and trains educators on behavior change for both your personal and professional life. With experience as a classroom special education teacher, and behavior specialist in public schools, residential placement, and private settings, Lindsay enjoys working with all educators looking to reignite their passion for education, developing a healthy teacher mindset, connect with all students, and conquer challenging behavior in any classroom setting.
For the longest time I thought that the word overwhelmed was synonymous with teaching. If I was going to teach, I was going to be overwhelmed. It was just the way that it was. Everyone around me was overwhelmed, so it must just be part of the job.
I’ve since learned how wrong I was. Or maybe wrong isn’t the word (more on that later in the post). Instead, I’ve since learned how holding that mindset did not serve me as the educator I wanted to become.
So if that teacher mindset didn’t serve me, what did? What helped me find relief from all the overwhelm that I thought had to come with being a special education teacher? Great question! Here are my top 5 strategies that helped me find relief the simple and easy way!
LANGUAGE SWAPS
I learned to use different words in both conversation and in my own personal thoughts. Learning about the Law of Attraction was eye opening. What I think truly does become what I experience. Truly, if I thought I had to be overwhelmed, well then in fact I would feel overwhelmed. My favorite swaps? I learned to change, “I have to, I need to or I should” into sentences starting with “I get to, I choose to, I love to”. For example, “I need to go to this IEP meeting” becomes, “I get to go to this IEP meeting and advocate for my student”. How different does the second one feel?
PUT A MIRROR IN YOUR CLASSROOM
Special Education classrooms can be stressful at times. Emotions can be high and energy can be even higher. I don’t know about you, but I wear my emotions all over my face, especially when I’m feeling stressed. Placing a mirror in my room, helped me to catch myself when my facial expressions started to shift. Bonus points too, seeing myself in the mirror throughout the day, helped to remind me who I am, and what I value most. This is paramount for me keeping a healthy teacher mindset.
INVOLVE YOUR STUDENTS AND STAFF
I always held a “I can do it alone” mentality, and you know what I found out? Doing things by myself, led me to being all by myself. I can’t stress this one enough! Involve your students and staff in decisions and tasks. Using classroom jobs, checklists, and visuals are all ways that you can create systems and expectations with your classroom so you aren’t trying to do it all, all by yourself.
OWN YOUR CLASSROOM
Be proud of YOUR room. Don’t compare it to the classroom next door or across the hall. Celebrate YOUR room. Love YOUR students. Be proud of the community YOU are building one day at a time, with your students. YOU are their teacher for a reason, and they are your students for a reason too!
MULTI-USE TOOLS!
One of my favorite mottos is, the simpler, the better. One of the quickest ways to get overwhelmed as a special education teacher is thinking you have to have a separate tool for each situation. I’m here to share just the opposite. Find the tool that works best for you and your students and go with it! Personally for me, my favorite tools include a small dry-erase whiteboard, post-its, and colored paper. So many tools that are often used in special education classrooms such as contingency maps, token boards, mini schedules, positive messages, can be created using these simple tools!
Yes, these strategies might seem a little unconventional. And that’s exactly how they are intended to be. Finding relief from the overwhelm that can come from our profession, can only come when you learn to honor who YOU are as the educator that YOU are. Looking within to trust in who you are is essential in holding a strong teacher mindset. So many strategies out there today focus on our students. My passion is inspiring educators to find value in who they are from within. Only then, can YOU find the best tool YOU have in your toolbox…and that’s YOU my friend!
I’d love to connect with YOU! Visit www.defineyouniversity.com or you can find me on Instagram at @lindsaytitusedu, on Twitter @ltitus828, or on Facebook @Lindsay Titus.
