Work-Life Balance Tips for Teachers
For teachers, every day is busy. There are lessons to plan, papers to grade, and students to teach. It can feel like there’s just not enough time in the day to do all the things necessary to have a great classroom, personal time, and enough sleep. By the middle of the school year, teachers’ busy schedules often catch up to them, causing teacher burnout.
A 2016 study showed that when teachers have higher burnout levels, they are more stressed and so are their students. To avoid this stress and burnout, it’s necessary to have a work-life balance that allows for free time away from school.
Some tips
- Use to-do lists: Even if it’s just a couple of items, having clear direction and goals for each day helps maintain focus and complete directives. By having a clear direction of what you need to get done, you can manage your time better and reduce stress.
- Long-term planning: By planning more than a week in advance, you avoid the grading scramble at the end of each week.
- Work together: You are surrounded by other teachers and faculty that can provide support and help you feel connected. Close relationships at work can increase job satisfaction.
- Set and keep a work schedule: Allocating set times for specific tasks helps to keep work productive. It can also allow you to set aside time for working without interruptions and help you separate work from guilt-free home time.
- Take care of your health and well-being: Getting enough sleep, having a balanced diet, and fitting exercise into your busy teacher schedule may seem impossible at times, but the benefits far outweigh the effort. Find whatever works for you to ensure physical and mental health!
At the end of the day, only you can make the choices necessary to achieve a healthy work-life balance. By making the effort to do so, you will learn what works best and what doesn’t work in your own life.
We want to hear from you! How do you balance work and personal life?
