Dive Brief:
- Educators looking to improve their teaching effectiveness in the coming school year can take advantage of seven tips highlighted in a recent article from Education Week.
- From ditching grades to leaving lectures behind, implementing the recommended steps may take some work, but one or two may be easy to integrate.
- Even selecting one would be helpful, lest teachers fall into traps that include “becoming a martyr” or “running yourself ragged,” which would not benefit educators or the students they hope to impact.
Dive Insight:
Managing a school and district is a juggling act. Add into this the oversight of not just teachers academic skills, but their habits, and curriculum designers can quickly feel something slip. Offering teachers professional development opportunities may help, and these activities don’t always need to focus on hard skills.
Teacher burnout is a very real concern, with about half a million educators leaving the profession each year, according to Psychology Today. As up to date as teachers are on best learning practices, that doesn’t help when they’ve grading test exams every night — including weekends — for months.
Encouraging teachers to find breaks during the school year can be crucial. Retreats that focus on taking care of oneself are one option, like the recent Teacher Self-Care Conference, which is already taking presentation proposals for its next event in June 2019. Curriculum designers must support teachers not just on refreshing their academic skills, but their personal needs, as well.
