I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Week fourteen… This week we had a guest speaker, Susan Waddell, who has been teaching for a total of thirteen years. She is very familiar with the different subjects but she started out as a English teacher and wanted to give us a few take away tools. She talked about four literacy strategies that help with students comprehension. These strategies were see-think-wonder, comprehension log, concept pattern organization and remix.  Being able to receive advice from teachers who are very experienced in the the field of teaching, is very helpful for a future teacher.

In our zoom meeting with Mrs. Waddell, she asked us about our semester and how it is going. A lot of us answered "stressed". This week I found an article from edutopia, that talks about avoiding stress, anxiety and burnout. Here are five strategies that can help to keep calm now and as a future teacher.

1. Engage in positive self-talk and self-reflection
• Identify strengths and reinforce a positive, can-do attitude.
• Don't have negative thoughts or doubts. Always try to stay positive and give yourself compliments.
2. Make it manageable
• If you start to feel overwhelmed, make sure you stop and realize your priorities - what should be done and in what order. Then, figure out a step-by-step plan to get the work done.
3. Embrace the joys of teaching
• When there are the "aha!" moments wether its in something you're doing or when a student understands something.
• Stay in those happy moments.
4. Become more resilient
• Be able to bounce back when there are setbacks.
• Try to stay calm during stressful moments.
• Take control over your actions.
5. Set your problems aside for a while
• Identify your problems that are distracting you.
• Ask yourself if you have control over the problem. If "no", leave the problem somewhere you can't find it. 

This article relates to Standard 5 when teachers reflect on their practice. It is very important for teachers to be able to reflect on the work of students. This also can help teachers when they are stressed and feeling worn down. It is very important to keep focused and not worry and stress over the little things.