Moving Past the Anxiety of Teaching

For the past couple of months, I have been working as a supply teacher in various high schools throughout the Lambton-Kent district. It has not been easy. I always thought that teaching was my passion; I felt a sense of purpose when I set foot inside the classroom, but now there are so many questions and doubts that have continued to plague my mind. Is it worth waiting on the supply list for a full-time teaching job? Can I wait? Should I travel and teach elsewhere? Should I gain more experience before I settle down in an Ontario region? Is teaching right for me? Unfortunately, I still don't have the answers to these questions, which has caused me considerable amounts of anxiety.

How do I move past these anxieties? 

My anxiety tends to kick into overdrive when I am sitting alone with my thoughts. My anxiety creates fear and resistance inside of me; so much so that I struggle to talk myself into going to a teaching assignment. In order to get a hold of my anxiety, I need to feel like I have a purpose in life; like I have something to work towards. I have to keep myself busy and focused on a meaningful task, or else my anxiety will start to overpower me altogether. 

I came up with a plan today: 

• Document my "Little Wins". As humans, we tend to get too caught up in the negatives: all of the work we didn't do, all of the things we didn't accomplish, all of the things we are too scared to try, and all of things that we are not. STOP THE NEGATIVE THOUGHTS. This is so much easier said than done, but I am going to give it a try. I want to start celebrating my little victories each day, in order to bring the positive energy and self love back into my life. 
• Reflect! As teachers, we have done our fair share of reflection. We know that reflection is the key to learning and personal growth, so I am going to be reflecting on my supply teaching days. What did I learn today? What worked well? What should I do differently? Did I make any connections with my students today? 
• Learn! Speaking for myself, I am at the top of my teaching game when I am constantly taking the time to learn and prepare for the day. Teachers are lifelong learners, which means that the learning doesn't stop when you enter into the field. There is always something new to learn, so keep trying your best to be a role model for students and show them the importance of learning. 
• Keep myself happy! It is so important that teachers take time for themselves. We are in a helping profession, which means that we LOVE to help others. As teachers, we tend to put our students' needs above our own, but we need to remember that we are no good for our students if we are burnt out and unhappy. Take time to do the things you love. Relax. Spend time with your loved ones. Plan exciting things to do with your free time. Enjoy your life and explore the world.

I am going to be using this blog to set my plan into motion. I will be sharing my personal teaching reflections, goals, plans and ideas for the classroom. This blog will document my growth as an individual and as a teacher, and will help me find my inner happiness and self worth. It is a tall order, but I have faith that I can continue on the path to be an amazing teacher if I can move past my anxieties and be my best self. 

-Ms. Perry  

Why blog?

Blogging is a great exercise for both teachers and students alike. Let me start this piece with the teachers. I don't know about you, but I often find it difficult to be concise. I tend to blab and blab and blab some more. This is not the greatest quality in a teacher because it is very easy to lose the students' focus; before you know it, you have 30 kids staring at you with blank faces and drool hanging from their mouths. Therefore, keeping instruction, rubrics, lessons, and tangents concise is the key to ensuring that you give students information without losing them along the way. What better way to practice the art of conciseness than by blogging? Blogs help teachers reign in their tangents because if they want to develop a readership, they need to keep their posts as short and interesting as possible. Quality is ALWAYS more important than quantity! Hopefully these same skills can be transferable to the classroom.

Teachers can also lead by example. If you want your students to blog, you need to be their mentor. Create your own blog, lead them through the set-up process, and give them tips and tricks for creating their own successful blog.

Now onto the students. Why should our students be blogging? Two words: LITERACY SKILLS. What better way to have students practice their reading and writing than by having them blog about a specific topic of interest to them? They will be engaged in their topic; they will have the ability to practice their writing skills; and they will be motivated to edit and review their posts before sharing them with the online world. Students can be creative in their posts and in the design and set-ups of their blogs; they will have the opportunity to express themselves, and teachers and readers will be able to get a sense of each student's identity.

Teachers can also use student blogs as an assessment tool or student tracker. Teachers can track the progress that a student is making over time, as they begin to develop their blogs and continue to post about various topics throughout the school year.

Try it out teachers. See what you can create, and share this experience with your students. Happy blogging!

Meet the Blogger

Hi everyone!

In case you are a little curious about the person behind the blog posts, I thought I would introduce myself. 

My name is Dayna Perry or "Zany" as my stepdad likes to call me, and I am a math-fanatic. What can I say? I love the challenge of solving a math problem, and I live for the rush of excitement that comes from finding a solution (one of many, in some cases)! I am also a sucker for numbers, but even numbers are my favourite! There is just something so satisfying about having digits add up to a number that can always be split in half. Am I right? I love Sudoku, nano-grams, and Reno-gram puzzles; basically any game that allows me to work and play with numbers has me fascinated! Here is a math joke for my fellow math lovers (hehe): 

What else? 

Prepare yourself for the wave of judgement that you are about to pass on my poor defenseless soul: 

I cringe during overly sappy and cliche romantic moments, but I secretly love them and have to hold back the urge to scream "AWWWW!" 

I use exclamation marks WAY too much, but if you can look past this, then all the better. I think exclamation marks make everything more exciting. And who doesn't live for excitement, right?  

I play Nancy Drew computer games (ages 10 and up), when I am feeling nostalgic for my childhood and I want to see what kind of magical things my brain can do. Seriously, these games can be tough, especially when you're playing on Senior Detective and don't get a checklist to follow. I will definitely be making a post or two about Nancy Drew, so please stay tuned! 

Confession time: I have anxiety, and every day is a struggle to fight the internal thoughts that are trying to beat me down. Recognizing little achievements throughout the day helps me to feel productive and keeps my negative thoughts at bay.

I saved the best for last. I love, love, love to crochet! "Don't you know that crocheting is for grannies?" I know no such thing. Crocheting is for everyone and is so accessible for those of you that would like to give it a try. 

Spoiler alert: There will be many posts about crocheting in my blog. There will also be posts about my passions, adventures, pitfalls and inner turmoils, so get ready. 

Welcome to the blog about a crazy Canadian girl that is still trying to figure herself out. Happy reading to all! 

Love, 

Zany Dany