SELF CARE: How Can Journaling Benefit Teachers? (a four-minute useful read)

Another rough day where a student had to be removed from your classroom—not once, but twice—which was disruptive and upset the other kids. These learning environment killers have become a daily occurrence with no forward progress on behavior issues. You rush to your PLC meeting and every recommendation proposed is vetoed by “the one” who never likes anyone’s ideas yet never offers any solutions either. The perfect finish to your already frustrating day. Sound familiar? So, how can journaling help you in the classroom and your teaching life? And is it a good use of your time?

Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, and Leonardo da Vinci thought it was a good use of theirs. But why does this simple act produce such incredible results?

Journaling:

• reduces stress and anxiety by providing a healthy way to manage them. By writing about your stressful challenges and situations, you can release negative thoughts and feelings from your mind.
• declutters your mind which leads to clearer thinking and a sharper focus. Who doesn’t want that, right?
• promotes self-expression by helping you become more in tune with yourself, aware of your thoughts, and what they are trying to tell you.
• boosts your self-confidence and self-esteem when you can look back and see the challenges you faced and how you overcame them. Makes you proud!
• creates inspiration by allowing you to brainstorm new ideas and solutions to your problems in the classroom or with colleagues, inspires creativity and enhances your critical thinking skills.
• helps you achieve goals and keeps you accountable when you keep track of the outcomes you’re trying to achieve.
• shows your progress and growth over time when you can see how far you’ve come.
• strengthens your memory through the act of writing it down. Yay for that!

Write about anything you want. There’s no right or wrong way to journal. Start with just one sentence. Write it down in whatever form is easiest for you; a note in your phone, a document on your computer, in a spiral notebook or journal and go from there. Don’t censor yourself or worry about grammar or punctuation, just write what you feel. No one’s going to read it but you.

If writing prompts make it easier, here are a few to pick from:

• How do I feel about my day?
• What was my biggest challenge?
• What could have made it better?
• What do I want to do differently?
• What gives me joy?
• What am I grateful for?

There are several different kinds of journaling methods so mix it up and explore what works best for you. Bullet journaling is helpful for keeping you organized, focused on getting more done, and achieving goals. Recording what you are most thankful for in a gratitude journal can help you feel more positive, optimistic and better understand what you value most. Daily logging can be useful for tracking the significant events in your day and what you did. Reflective journaling is beneficial in writing about how you feel and getting in tune with yourself. Stream of consciousness, or free writing lets you do a brain dump without respect to anything other than what comes out of your brain. Use whatever method(s) you are most comfortable with and are most beneficial to you. Whatever you decide, just write about your day and how you feel. You’ll be glad you did.

If you found this information useful, please pass it on to anyone else who could benefit from it.

Happy journaling and most of all HAPPY FRIDAY!

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Written by Bended Productions team, posted by Kathleen Eppinger