From Surviving to Thriving: Practical Ways to be a More Resilient Teacher – Plus Free Classroom Activity Sheets

It’s not uncommon for teachers to find themselves in survival mode. There can be so many things going on that it can be hard to think beyond just getting through the moment.

The good news is that you don’t have to stay in survival mode. By building the positive habit of resilience, you can begin to truly flourish in and out of the classroom.

What Does It mean to Be a Resilient Teacher?

Being a resilient teacher is more than just having the ability to bounce back after difficulties. Instead, resilience means managing the uncertainties that come with teaching while maintaining a sense of balance, commitment, and agency.

All teachers understand the realities of the profession: the workload is heavy, resources are scarce, students may need more help than you can provide and some days it can be physically, emotionally and mentally exhausting. It can seem overwhelming, but here are some practical strategies that can help.

Practical Ways to Build the Positive Habit of Resilience

1. Embrace a Flexible Mindset

There will be days when the lessons won’t go to plan, students will behave unpredictably, and unexpected tasks arise. These challenges happen regardless of anyone’s experience or expertise. Whilst you can’t change your circumstances, you can change your mindset. A flexible mindset can help you adapt and stay positive. It can also help you to be open to possibilities, regardless of challenges or failure. There are many ways to embrace a flexible mindset, like practising gratitude, seeing ‘challenges’ instead of ‘problems’, accepting your unique journey, and celebrating your wins, no matter how small.

2. Establish Clear Work-Life Boundaries
Many teachers take their work home to do outside of working hours. Whilst staying on top of work is important, balancing your life is equally crucial. Prioritise time for health, wellbeing, and leisure by making plans and sticking to them. Creating a sense of accountability for yourself and others is one of the best ways to clearly and appropriately establish a healthy work-life balance. As the old adage goes, you cannot water the garden with an empty bucket.

3. Build and Maintain Healthy Relationships with People in Your Life
Maintaining a good sense of connection with your students, colleagues, friends and family can help to increase emotional and physical wellbeing, reduce stress and strengthen resilience during challenges. Humans are relational creatures that struggle when isolated, so set aside time each week to catch up with friends, family and colleagues outside of work.

4. Incorporate Agency in Your life.

Teachers spend considerable time planning for the agency of their students. You must apply agency in your own life as well. It’s important to use your agency to make sense of the environment, to make changes or choices and at times resist demands. Consider this quote by Stanford University Professor of Psychology Albert Bandura,

“[People who act as agents] are producers of their life circumstances not just products of them”.

Are you applying agency or is it a skill you need to work on?

5. Reflect and Adjust
Critical reflection is a skill most teachers already have. You can apply those skills to your life as you reflect on your challenges, successes, what you are doing, how things are going, and where we want to be. By critically reflecting on your life, you can reframe your circumstances and find ways to overcome the challenges you face. A great way to do this is by journalling or practising gratitude daily. By writing a reflection of your day (or even your week), you will be able to easily identify the areas you can improve on.

Using Your Teacher Planners to Build Resilience

A well organised routine can help teachers manage the chaos. Here’s how to use your planner to build the positive habit of resilience:

1. Create clear boundaries between your work life and your personal life and plan them out in your planner.
2. Jot down a few ideas to overcome moments when your lesson isn’t going as planned. This will make you feel more prepared and allow for some flexibility.
3. Take your social life seriously. Plan a date with your friends, family or colleagues and block out the time for it in your planner.
4. Write down short reflections about why you have taken up your commitments and what they mean to you.
5. Use motivating quotes or stickers in your planner.

Do you have any tips on building resilience that you would like to share with other teachers? Feel free to comment them below.

This article is part of Createl Publishing’s Building Character and Resilience Program.