Raise your hand if you welcome school vacation and time to rejuvenate with tricks for teachers.
Hi and welcome back to Attentionology for K – 5 Teachers!
“School’s OUT…finally!”
In many classrooms across our global community, you can hear this sentiment expressed by students and teachers alike, if not on this exact day, then in the form of a countdown until these words are perfect.
No matter what day of the year it is, most teachers love their work.
It’s a passion as much as a paycheck. But, teaching is exhausting!
During your next school break, tap into new rejuvenation tricks for teachers.
Take time to pay attention to yourself.
Walk across sensory bridges!
What’s a sensory bridge? According to artist Peter J. Woytuk, “art forms a sensory bridge to expand our awareness, make connections and deepen our appreciation of the natural world.”
Here’s a menu of art-based sensory “rejuvenation tricks,” tossed up like a salad, for your enjoyment and replenishment…
Smiles and laughter with other teachers, like Emily Kotecki, Museum Educator, North Carolina (US) Museum of Art, can restore and rejuvenate us over school breaks.
Start with Laughter – A quick read (author unknown) of actual answers given on history tests and in Sunday school quizzes by fifth grade students in the state of Ohio (US) might make you laugh…
…Ancient Egypt was old. It was inhabited by gypsies and mummies who all wrote in hydraulics. They lived in the Sarah Dessert. The climate of the Sarah is such that all the inhabitants have to live elsewhere.
…The Greeks were a highly sculptured people, and without them we wouldn’t have history. The Greeks also had myths. A myth is a young female moth.
…In the first Olympic games, Greeks ran races, jumped, hurled biscuits, and threw java. The games were messier then than they show on TV now.
All teachers Need Quick Rejuvenation Tricks – De-stress A.S.A.P. – Always Say A Poem.
Medical research actually shows that reciting rhythmic verse slows your heart rate and helps calm you.
Try saying this poem aloud. I made it up for a laugh…
Oh no, home demands,
do I look like I want to heed commands
when school has just gone on break?
Why don’t YOU get the mop; YOU get the rake.
Don’t look at me like I’M not cool;
chores tomorrow; I’m heading for the pool!
Tap Your Inner Poet for a Rejuvenation Trick – Play with words, just for the fun of it. Try this….
Meet up with some friends in a favorite place.
Look around you and take turns “spouting” words and phrases about what you see.
Designate one “player” to jot down the words and phrases that you collect together.
Move them around to create some form of poetry.
Text or email the “finished poem” to everyone at the close of the meet up.
Note: Words that express relaxation definitely qualify for rejuvenating word play….
words like oooh, ahhh, relaxing, refreshing, restoring, free time to be me!
Picture a Space, a Place Outdoors that is Beautiful to You – Say/write what you see in your mind’s eye.
Evergreens maybe, or perhaps the ocean. Picture a space, a place that is beautiful to you. Go there in your mind. Use this effective rejuvenation trick.
Here’s a short free-verse poem I wrote with this creative technique:
Evergreen
You play tricks with the sunlight,
Draw long shadows across a rowboat’s bow,
Host a game of hide and seek with songbirds,
Reach stately to the sky as the moonlight dances between your branches.
NOTE: This short poem uses the power of personification, a FAB 15 – A-GE – attention-getting element. As the poet, I am “speaking” to the tree as if it were a person.
Take a Brain Break – Participating in the arts to expand our awareness of ourselves and the world around us is a wonderful rejuvenation trick for teachers.
Sometimes, it’s best to simply take a brain break.
STOP…turn everything off. Breathe. Mentally excuse yourself from your circumstances.
Go to a quiet place in your mind. Pretend you “just landed.” What do you like, dislike, want to embrace, wish you could change?
Soak up a sense of rejuvenation. It’s important to rejuvenate with sensory bridges that are not technology-dependent.
Research suggests that more and more of us, especially college-age and under, are becoming disconnected from in-person communications.
Teachers who have just said goodbye to distracted elementary school students may welcome a chance to tap into rejuvenation tricks during vacation time.
Your own rejuvenation will benefit your students when the school bell rings again.
Please send comments about tricks you use to rejuvenate.
Remember you don’t need to be a magician to work magic in any instructional setting!
Talk with you again soon,
Barbara ♥ The Lovable Poet
