Designed for both individual use and professional development programs, Self-Care for Teachers provides guided reflections and practical advice for classroom teachers and educational leaders alike, and will be of immediate benefit to many who feel overwhelmed by the increasing demands of the profession and are struggling to avoid burn out and find balance. Clearly, many teachers are stretched to the breaking point, and much the same could be said of many administrators. Indeed, there is a curious conspiracy at work in overwork. Teachers typically find it almost impossible to say no to more work and greater expectations, just as administrators cant help themselves asking for more. With the best of intentions, we all put students first, and sacrifice ourselves as necessary. Various remedies have been suggested, but most focus on managerial strategies or pedagogical reformorganizations and teaching rather than teachers.Dr. Allens approach is fundamentally different. Twenty-five years wide experience in educationbeginning with a boys boarding school and including a university lectureship, a post at a prestigious prep school, and various teaching and administrative positions in international schoolshas convinced him two simple truths. Teachers can never meet the endless demands of the profession. Not only that, but as much as we care for our students, we dont look after ourselves very well. Consequently, he suggests that a good part of the solution to the beguiling business of overwork and its attendant maladies must be what he has come to call self-care, both a missing piece of pedagogy and an overlooked aspect of educational leadership. By self-care I simply mean learning to look after ourselves better so that we can continue to look after our students as we would like to. However much (or little) we are supported in our work and outside it, I suggest that we appoint ourselves our own chief care givers and consciously seek whatever it is which sustains us most. The purpose of this book is to further that initiative.Since, by self-selection, rigorous training, and long habit, educators often become used to unnecessary self-sacrifice and constant self-neglect, Self-Care for Teachers emphasizes learninglearning to look after ones selfand is as inspirational as it is instructional, balancing inventory exercises with personal anecdotes.Self-Care for Teachers will help educators everywhere to regain their balance, reclaim their time, and renew their practice, and will be of critical importance to thousands of teachers and administrators in the IB (International Baccalaureate) Program who believe in the IB ideal of balance but require explanation and guidance to make this concept a reality in their lives and schools.Blending current research, personal experience, and literary reflections, Self-Care for Teachers at once scholarly, artful, and moving. Written in a lively and accessible style, this thought-provoking work invites readers to reconsider long-held views and values about vocation, success, balance, time, productivity, and spirituality. By reconsidering these fundaments together, educators everywhere can literally change their minds about their work as professionals and their lives as people, and move towards greater peace, productivity, and pleasure.
