Teachers Need to “Practice the Pause”

I saw a post on Social Media recently where they discussed that teachers need to “practice the pause.” Well, that got my interest since so many teachers are ALWAYS FEELING OVERWHELMED. So I continued to read.

Here is the quote by Lori Deschene – it is jammed packed with words of wisdom.

“Pause before judging. Pause before assuming. Pause before accusing. Pause whenever you’re about to react harshly and you’ll avoid doing and saying things you’ll later regret.” Lori Deschene.

As you can see, the “pause” she is talking about is the one we need to add before we rush to judgement.

Pause Before Rushing to Judge

Often we rush to judge before we even realize that’s what we’ve done. I recall the story of a toddler on the subway with his mother who was misbehaving and his mother was not paying any attention to him and what he was doing. Many of the other passengers were getting annoyed. Finally an older woman spoke to the small boy and asked him to settle down. This caused the mother to come out of her day-dream and she immediately called him over while apologizing to everyone around her. She added that they had just left the hospital where her husband had just died.

Do you see how rushing to judgement in this instance caused people to get more annoyed than they would if they had known her circumstances?

Pause to Regain Your Energy

Another place that we need to practice the pause is to regain your energy. When you are drained or exhausted, you need to PAUSE. Many teachers are guilty of continuing on even through exhaustion. One of the categories on this website addresses teacher self-care and some of the articles discuss teacher burn-out and the need to PAUSE. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to look through them. There ideas on how to add to your self care and still be a great teacher. Here is one: How to Avoid Teacher Burnout; a little R & R!

If you just need a few tips for not getting overwhelmed, here is another article that may interest you: 9 Ways to Tackle the Crazy Overwhelm. Take a few minutes to see which of these you’ve already added to you skill set.

Pause to Allow Your Students to Think

Another concept I think of when I think about “PAUSING” is to pause to allow your students to think while you’re teaching. The power of using WAIT TIME during your teaching has been well documented and researched. Humans need time to process information, especially if it’s new information. Allowing students the time to think is one of the best things (and simplest) to help their learning. I wrote an earlier article that discusses using “wait time” along with other highly effective instructional practices; you can read it here: 7 Highly Effective Instructional Practices to Increase Student Engagement and Impress Your Principal!

Pause to Enjoy Nature and Life

The final topic I want to suggest is that you utilize the PAUSE to enjoy NATURE and to enjoy LIFE. Please don’t let your life pass by and before you know it you are approaching 50 and haven’t done things you’ve always wanted to do because you’ve been busy working. Stop and take some time to do these things throughout your years. Because life goes by quickly. I know that often you feel overwhelmed and broke. This is the perfect time to plan a short (inexpensive) weekend trip. I’ve written a couple of articles about places you can visit on a weekend (and with little money). Take a look at one here: Inexpensive Weekend Get-Aways for Teachers.

The two things you need to enjoy are Nature and doing anything that interests you. Getting outside after a long day (or on the weekend) can really lift your spirits. Even a walk around the block with your dog or kids allows you the fresh air and glimpses of nature. If you’re in a big city, you may only see a tree or two, so you may want to drive over to a fun park; such as Central Park in NYC. Most larger cities have large parks and even our smaller towns have a fun park or two. Even walking a few laps around a small park allows you to unwind from a busy, stressful day.

The final item is doing something that interests you. Perhaps you enjoy a craft, or painting, or photography, or even writing. Whatever interests you will be a fun activity to relieve your stress and overwhelm. Find your “thing” and then pull it out to work on every now and then to “practice the pause.”

Until Next Time,