Teach From Your Best Self : A Teacher’s Guide to Thriving in the Classroom

Teachers, this book is a guide for taking care of education's most valuable resource: you. Author Jay Schroder, founder of the popular Teach from Your Best Self Institute, demonstrates why the version of ourselves that we bring to teaching matters and describes how we can rejuvenate ourselves while maximizing student learning. Part I explains why the self that a teacher brings to the classroom is important. Part II explores skills that will help us sustain a best-self state in all manner of situations. Part III delves into those moments when we're provoked beyond our limits and our "hurtspots" come sharply into view. It offers ways to avert a reactive state or recover from it. Lastly, Part IV provides simple approaches for building a more durable, best self for the long term-a best self with deepened capacity to respond rather than react in the pressurized conditions of teaching. With fresh ideas presented throughout, you'll learn how to prioritize your own well-being so you can continue to make a difference for your students. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Introduction The Experiences and Influences Behind This Book About This Book and How to Use It Part I: The Challenge of Teaching Chapter 1: Attempting to Do an Impossible Job Compulsory Education: Some Historical Context Effective Teaching May Be the Hardest Job There Is The Scylla and Charybdis of Cynicism and Resignation Chapter 2: Learning to Teach from My Best Self Chapter 3: Mapping the Brain: Teaching and the Stress Response System Chapter 4: The Role of ACEs and the Hurtspots They Leave Us With Chapter 5: Stress, Pressure, and Hurtspots in Students Chapter 6: Reckoning with the Impact of Culture Part II: Skills and Principles That Matter Chapter 7: Return on Investment Chapter 8: The Best Self Model for Teaching and Learning Chapter 9: An Antidote to Decision Fatigue: Finding Clarity through Reflective Writing Decision Fatigue and Internal Conflict Decisions versus Choices Reflective Writing as a Doorway to Internally Aligned Choice Chapter 10: Spheres of Control and Influence Chapter 11: Applying Radical Acceptance to Teaching Chapter 12: Choose Yes Chapter 13: Saying “No” from Yes Chapter 14: Classroom Management: Know Your Prime Directive Chapter 15: Developing Field-Based Attention as an Antidote to Mental Fatigue Chapter 16: The Curiously Nourishing Power of Attention Chapter 17: The Vital Role of Positive Messages Chapter 18: The Importance of Positive Messages for Teachers Part III: Tools for Emotionally Challenging Moments Chapter 19: Intervening in the Steps from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde Chapter 20: The Cool Pause Chapter 21: The Importance of Giving Triggered Students Space Chapter 22: Speaking the Language of the Limbic System Chapter 23: Using Counter-Stories to Recover from Hurtspot Reactions Part IV: Creating a Resilient Best Self Chapter 24: Having a Hand in the Stories That Make Us Chapter 25: Using Expressive Writing to Revise Hurtspot Stories The Original Four-Day Pennebaker Expressive Writing Method Brief Perspective Switching Experimenting with a Symbolic Audience Chapter 26: The Liberating Power of Radical Acceptance Chapter 27: Conclusion: A New Direction Forward Acknowledgments References "Teachers, this book is a guide for taking care of education's most valuable resource: you. Author Jay Schroder, founder of the popular Teach from Your Best Self Institute, demonstrates why the version of ourselves that we bring to teaching matters and describes how we can rejuvenate ourselves while maximizing student learning. Part 1 explains why the self that a teacher brings to the classroom is important. Part 2 explores skills that will help us sustain a best-self state in all manner of situations. Part 3 delves into those moments when we're provoked beyond our limits and our "hurtspots" come sharply into view. It offers ways to avert a reactive state or recover from it. Lastly, Part 4 provides simple approaches for building a more durable, best self for the long term -- a best self with deepened capacity to respond rather than react in the pressurized conditions of teaching. With fresh ideas presented throughout, you'll learn how to prioritize your own well being so you can continue to make a difference for your students"-- Provided by publisher