Share My Lesson

With dire staffing and resource shortages, rising school violence, extremists’ attempts to ban books and narrow curriculum, and increasing numbers of students with mental health and behavioral challenges, many educators feel exhausted and undervalued. They—and their students—need well-being supports like never before. Share My Lesson has devoted several resources to help educators prioritize their well-being and infuse joy into their classrooms.

Fill Your Own Cup First

To best support students’ social and emotional needs, educators must first care for their own. That’s why SML added five new, for-credit wellness webinars in 2024 to help educators prioritize self-care. Two of the courses focus on better understanding educator stress and the need for a dedicated well-being routine. In “Be Healthfully Present: Supporting Your Own Well-Being,” educators learn to assess their occupational health and quality of life, understand the unique hazards of working in education and their impact on well-being, and identify health-promoting ways to cope with stress and trauma. In “Holistic Approach to Self-Care: Creating a Personal Wellness Plan,” AFT national trainer Katherine Dorman shows how to create a personal self-care routine that addresses the physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of well-being and empowers educators to thrive. All five wellness webinars are available at go.aft.org/goe, and more will be added soon.

For a fun way to kickstart your self-care routine right where you are, check out SML’s “Self-Care Wellness Bingo Card,” complete with practical activities—including “spend 10 minutes journaling,” “practice positive affirmations,” and “disconnect from work emails after hours”—that prioritize educator well-being.

Infusing Joy into Classroom Spaces

Educators can support students’ well-being through classroom and curriculum strategies that help students express their emotions and positively engage with each other and their learning. With “5 Ways to Spark Joy in the Classroom,” SML partner Proof Positive: Autism Wellbeing Alliance gives ways to foster a joyful classroom environment, which enhances student engagement and builds resilience. Strategies include brain breaks with exercises to reduce stress and recharge students and educators, and a “joy jar” of simple activities for anyone who needs a positivity boost.

In “Make It Awkward: Connecting with Students and Finding Joy,” frequent SML contributor Amber Chandler writes about the importance of establishing caring relationships with students. Through connecting in small ways—using silly conversation starters, creating a classroom board highlighting students’ favorite activities, and celebrating and validating their accomplishments—educators can create opportunities for joy and normalize students expressing their emotions.

“A Trusted Space: Where Healing Happens, Resilience Grows, and Learning Happens Naturally” stresses that educators must be emotionally healthy and supported to catalyze emotional health and academic success in students. In this webinar, SML partner All It Takes shares resources to help educators begin with their own well-being and then create a classroom atmosphere where students feel heard, safe, and seen, and experience positive interactions with peers and teachers that enable learning.

Remember: You Are an Amazing Educator

A Post-it note written by a “challenging” student changed history teacher Nicholas Ferroni’s career, giving him the encouragement to stay in the classroom just as he was feeling so burned out and exhausted that he was considering leaving. In the webinar “You Are an Amazing Educator,” Ferroni draws on two decades of teaching experience to share tips on deepening relationships with students, building a positive classroom environment, helping students navigate social-emotional issues, and preventing burnout. Most importantly, Ferroni reflects on the past few years—the hardest of many educators’ careers—and offers the encouraging message he drew from that Post-it note: “You matter to your students, and you’re doing an amazing job.”

Do you have resources you’d like to share? SML makes it easy! And if you have ideas or requests, reach out to content@sharemylesson.com.

–THE SHARE MY LESSON TEAM