5 New Year’s Resolutions for Teachers

We have all made New Year’s Resolutions that within the first week of January we have already broken. So this year make sure you stick with your resolutions by choosing something you can actually keep. Here are 5 resolutions that you almost certainly can keep and will kick start your teaching career this year. 

1) Clean Your Work Space

The saying goes “tidy desk, tidy mind” and I think this is true. Having a messy desk definitely makes me feel stressed out. The same goes for any spaces you work from home in, a messy desk or working in a noisy, or uncomfortable room will not help you concentrate or help your stress levels. You can start by cleaning out some old files, removing boxes from under the desk or even tidying up the files on your computer desk.

2) Get Your Wellbeing in Check

Positive mental and physical wellbeing should be a priority for any teacher. According to statistics from the National Education Union, 55% of those working in education feel their job has had a negative impact on their mental health at some point; don’t let yourself become another statistic and take some time to work on your wellbeing. Here are some handy tips to help get your work life balance right to start you off.

3) Get on Twitter 

You can unlock a world of resources to help you with lesson planning, workload management and wellbeing on Twitter. Here are more reasons why you should get your tweet on and join the social media platform.

4) Create a Personal Development Plan (PDP)

There is no better time than the New Year to take charge of your career and set out your professional goals to your Headteacher. Although a PDP mainly assists with reaching both short, and long-term career goals, as well as improving your current job performance; it's also gives your Headteacher a better understanding of your goals, your strengths and even your development needs. If you are trying to create your PDP, make sure to outline your strengths, areas for further development, opportunities and not to forget any threats that may affect any of the plans that you make. 

5) Take a Break 

This resolution should be one that we all stick to. Taking a break is really important for your physical and mental wellbeing and it actually increases your productivity. You can do this by ensuring that you take your lunch break, stop marking work on weekends and perhaps setting aside certain weeknights to do your marking or lesson planning to give yourself a free evening twice a week. It also means that during school holidays actually switching off and getting a proper rest by scheduling a percentage of your time to work and then the rest to yourself.

If your New Year’s Resolution was to eat healthily check out this article on the best foods to eat to reduce anxiety.