Teacher Self Care: Free Online Tools for When You Lack the Will to Teach
“You can’t pour from an empty cup.”
“You’re a better teacher for your students when you take care of yourself first.”
That’s crap.
Here’s why: It’s not selfish to care for yourself. You don’t need a reason to care for yourself. And you don’t need to care for yourself just so you can take better care of others.
Don’t get me wrong, the sentiment of these statements is wonderful and inspiring, but it’s just not what a teacher needs to hear when going back to school in January or when they’re burnt out after September.
Teacher self-care is about more than bettering yourself for others because you already give so much of yourself to your kids and your community. So, when you’re lacking the motivation and the will to get back in the classroom day after day, here are some free online tools that are actually helpful.
For When You’re a Disorganized Mess
If you’re a fan of color-coded notes and detailed to-do lists, this app is for you. With Notion, you can create easily customizable documents and store them by category to avoid all the clutter of paper or endless tabs of Google Docs. And better yet, you can access it on your desktop and on your phone or iPad through the app.
If your brain is really, and I mean really, a disorganized mess, if your thoughts move faster than your hands, or if you just have a lot of ideas you want to keep track of, then Creately may be for you. Here, you can create roadmaps of all your fun ideas and lesson plans. Organize tasks by color, by stage, or however your mind works. You can work in webs, lists, sticky notes, and more!
Teacher self-care, oftentimes, can just be having all your ducks in a row. Do you have a lot of forgetful students (or parents) and it’s driving you crazy? Try Remind! The trick here is getting parents to download the app, but once you get past that hurdle, you can communicate freely. Either send out class-wide reminders or one-on-one chats to make sure everyone’s on the same page.
For When Your Classroom (or Your Mind) is a Circus
Breathe in. Breathe out. Sometimes that’s all you need to ground yourself. Sometimes you need a little help, and that’s why I love Headspace. It’s a completely beginner-friendly introduction to meditation that you can do in minutes, or in seconds if you’re really short on time. Relaxing voices will guide you through breathing and clearing your mind and even help you sleep at night!
If you’re free any day at 3 p.m. ET, you can catch a free, virtual, guided meditation class right from your home or even your classroom. All it takes is ten minutes. Every day the class is broadcasted live from the app, so if you miss it today, you can catch the next one tomorrow.
This app steals the show if only because it’s so adorable. If you need a friend to keep you on track with your teacher self-care, try adopting your very own Finch. Once you get started, you’re given your little creature to name and prompted to select your self-care goals. Every day, as you complete your goals, take quizzes, and do reflections, your baby Finch grows—and so do you!
For When You Need To Let Someone Else Do The Teaching
Charlie’s Acres, a farm animal sanctuary, offers virtual class pets that you can adopt with your students. There are a small supply of spots available for free, and even more spots available if you or your students’ parents can offer a donation. Each program includes an animal of your choosing with a certificate, photo, and information on your pet. You’ll then have four 30-minute calls with a caregiver and your pet to learn about humane care for animals.
Discovery Education - Virtual Field Trips
Sit back and relax while you and your students explore the frozen tundra or even the science of DNA sequencing. You can watch the nearly hour-long field trip on-demand for free and, if you have access to the Discovery Education platform, you can use the bonus materials provided by grade level. Don’t forget to have popcorn on hand!
Let your students take the reins here with an interactive podcasting lesson. Students of all grade levels can work independently or in groups to create a podcast episode. These can be relevant to your lesson or on a topic of their choosing. While students draft their scripts and record, you can freely catch up on your own work. Then, once everyone is finished, you can enjoy listening to each episode as a class.
These printables from SeriousGiggles are available on Teachers Pay Teachers, and e2e members even have exclusive free access to the materials. To get it, just log in to e2e and visit this week’s module!
BONUS: Check out previous e2e presentations on teacher self-care!
This week, e2e members have exclusive access to all of our self-care presentations from years past. Learn how to sleep better, embrace chaos, and more! If you haven’t heard, you can get a FREE 30-day trial, with no commitments. Learn more here.
Looking to keep it offline? Here are some great, FREE resources from TeachersPayTeachers!
'Teacher Self-Care: 50 Ideas for the School Term' Printable Poster by Taylormade Teaching Australia
FREE Teacher Self-Care Toolkit by The SuperHERO Teacher
Teacher's Daily Self-Care Planner by Kids Create the Change
