Introducing Self-Care to Pre-Service Teachers 

Self-Care has four elements- physical, mental, emotional, and social. Training pre-service teachers  the elements of self-care is important because teaching is a high-stress, caregiving career. Infusing self-care  into teacher preparation course work, revisiting self-care throughout education courses, and including self care in field experiences are practices education preparation providers should implement (Miller & Flint Stipp, 2019).  

Our program implements self-care for our pre-service teachers in many points in our program and  focuses on self-care in our junior block level courses. One way we do so is by answering essential questions  (What does healthy look like? Where do I lose time? How can I develop good mental habits?), participating in  mind mapping, group sharing, and participating in desk yoga.  

Another strategy is a survival guide, implemented after discussions on relaxation and teacher  burnout. The survival guide introduces twelve ideas for self-care to our pre-service teachers including  problem solving, organization, and time-management (Aguilar, 2011; Fostering Resilience, 2019; Silver, 2017).  We share ideas on how we already use these twelve ideas and continue to discuss these ideas throughout  the semester. 

Finally, we ask students to participate in a Give One, Get Eight activity. Students answer one of nine  questions such as “How do you unwind and recharge after work?” or “What strategies do you use to eat  healthy?” Then, students share their answers with each other, receiving answers to the other eight questions  that they might want to incorporate into their teaching lives. Students are also introduced to a 31 day self care challenge (Lauren’sJourney, 2020) that they might want to implement but is not a required assignment. 

By sharing these ideas for self-care with our pre-service teachers, we hope they are able to  implement them in the beginning of their careers, lowering the stress of the important job of educator. 

References 

Aguilar, E. (2011). How teachers can build emotional resilience. Edweek.  

Fostering Resilience. (2019). Creating your personal stress-management plan. 

http://www.fosteringresilience.com/stress_management_plan.php 

Gonzalez. J. (2021, January 12). Why it’s so hard for teachers to take care of themselves. Cult of Pedagogy.  https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/teacher-self-care/ 

Hicklin, C. (2020). Start the year off right with self care. School and Community. 

http://www.ourdigitalmags.com/publication/?i=644267&article_id=3569931&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5 

McManis, L. D. (2021, March 01). Educator wellness: Self-care in a selfless field: Resilient educator.  https://resilienteducator.com/lifestyle/educator-wellness 

Miller, K., & Flint-Stipp, K. (2019). Preservice teacher burnout: Secondary trauma and self-care issues in  teacher education. Teacher Education, 28(2), 28-45. 

Silver, D. (2017). Teachers: Plan to care for yourself this year. 

Retrievedfromhttps://www.middleweb.com/35546/teachers-plan-to-care-of-yourself-this-year/

Why Teacher Self-Care Matters and How to Practice Self-Care in Your School. (2020, April 24).  Waterford.Org. https://www.waterford.org/education/teacher-self-care-activities/ 

31 day self-care challenge. Lauren’s Journey. https://laurensjourney.com/2020/05/01/31-day-self-care challenge-free-printable-checklist-may-2020/