Self Care

Teacher burnout is all too common, especially among theatre teachers. Theatre teachers have to deal with everything from apathetic students to overbearing admin, and that’s BEFORE the production-fueled 12-hour days. That’s why theatre teachers have to constantly push back against the ever-looming spectre of burnout. If you feel like you’re on the edge of burning out, here are three strategies you can use to put burnout in check. Self-CareSelf-care is at the top of the list. Theatre teachers give and give and give - everything from one-on-one feedback for classroom projects to late-night rehearsals of the impending spring musical. We love our students and we love our programs and we are far too willing to sacrifice our own personal well-being for the sake of that love. However, the MOST important thing to love is yourself! You need to rest and recuperate to have the energy to help your students and run your program. That means you need to unplug and pursue some non-theatre pastimes: Read a book, take a walk, treat yourself to your favorite cup of coffee. These pursuits do not need to be complicated or expensive to be effective self-care activities. Give yourself the chance to recharge your batteries so that you will have the energy in reserve to tackle the projects that are on your plate. Time ManagementInsufficient time management is a leading factor in teacher burnout. Time management challenges typically fall into one of two categories - under-planning and over-commitment - and the two are often connected. • Under-planning relates to not being properly prepared for class, or rehearsal, or other required school activities - things like not writing lesson plans or maintaining an updated rehearsal calendar. This makes teaching stressful, because it’s incredibly difficult to maintain focus in the classroom when you’re constantly playing catch-up or operating “on the fly.” If you’re under-prepared, take the time to prioritize your most important responsibilities, especially when it comes to things like lesson planning and rehearsals. • If you feel like you never have enough time in the day, it is probably because you are over-committed. As theatre teachers, we love to say yes (and as NEW theatre teachers we sometimes feel that we HAVE to say yes): yes to forming a drama club, yes to volunteering for adhoc committees, yes to special student projects. But your daily responsibilities should be your first priority. When you feel like you’re barely keeping up with your responsibilities, burnout comes quickly. If you find yourself in the weeds with your time management, look for projects or activities that are not part of your required work, and politely excuse yourself from those undertakings. There are only so many hours in a day, and you need to manage those hours effectively. Remember the WhyIt’s easy to have a long, happy career when everything runs smoothly. However, when teaching is no longer fun, burnout usually follows. This is especially true for theatre teachers. Somewhere between the lack of community support, the overbearing admin, and the mandatory incomprehensible ‘district educational initiative’ (that you somehow have to integrate into your curriculum!), many theatre teachers come to realize the love is gone. Being a full-time teacher is a lot of work, and sometimes that work is more frustrating than fun, and that is when burnout can set in. This is when you need to remember the Why. Remember WHY you wanted to teach theatre in the first place. Most drama teachers pursue this career because of their love of theatre, their love of young people, or both! Take time to remember the joy you feel when you see a student find their passion. Remember the pride on a parent’s face when they see their child light up the stage. Remember when an administrator brags about your production to the entire school. If nothing else, keep in mind that your class is the reason one student came to school today, and that being in your production motivated another student to stay in school and graduate. That is the Why, and the Why helps keep burnout at bay. Additional Reading: How to Deal With Rehearsal Burnout Dealing With Theatrical Burnout: 4 Tips for Teachers Ten Questions Every Teacher Needs to Ask. (When did you last ask #3?) Drama Teachers: We See You. We Hear You. We Are With You. Round-Up: Well-Being and Self-Care for Drama Teachers

Drama teachers, we see you. You pour so much energy into your students, productions, lessons, and trying to maintain some semblance of work-life balance, and we know it can take a toll on you. Maintaining your well-being and self-care isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity for long-term sustainability and staving off burnout. • Do a check-in with yourself. How are you doing? How are you feeling? Do you still have passion for teaching theatre? This can help you determine what the next step in your self-care needs to be. • These 20 self-care tasks for teachers will help you to avoid burning out before you even begin. They’re simple, actionable, and effective. • Being a drama teacher isn’t a full-time job… it’s TWO full-time jobs. From lesson planning to marking to directing your school production, there are countless responsibilities to shoulder. However, it is possible to balance both of these full-time jobs without burning yourself out. This article contains tips and tools that drama teachers can use to teach their classes while maintaining and running their programs. • In this video, veteran theatre educators and playwrights Lindsay Price and Laramie Dean talk about what Laramie likes to do after completing a big show or project to help maintain work-life balance. There’s also a worksheet to help organize your thoughts on maintaining work-life balance on a weekly basis. • It’s tempting to use summer and winter breaks to either get caught up or work ahead, but please take that break to rest, rejuvenate, and refresh. No matter what season or hemisphere you’re in, we’ve got helpful suggestions for you to get yourself feeling better. Remember: self-care is NOT selfish. And while we joke about self-care not just being about candles and bubble baths, if that is what helps to refill your cup, then get in that tub and relax! • Experiencing rehearsal burn-out or drama class burn-out, or even both, is not fun. But we’ve got you covered. Our top tips for dealing with burnout? Set boundaries, and delegate as much as you can to other staff members, higher-level students, and volunteer parents. For example, you might have students use peer assessment rubrics or self-assessments for some assignments to help reduce the amount of grading you have to do. Setting boundaries protects your time, and delegating tasks as much as possible will help set you up to successfully complete the tasks that only you can do. • Mindfulness activities are great for students but also so helpful for teachers. Here are 10 mindful minutes activities that you can use both in the drama classroom and in your everyday life to create calm and ease anxiety. • We always preach making healthy choices to our students, but when was the last time you subsisted on something other than coffee and takeout, especially during show week? Here are some health and fitness tips for drama students that again are also beneficial for teachers. As the saying goes: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. • Reach out to others in your community: other drama teachers, performing arts communities, online communities, whoever is available. However you might be feeling at the moment, chances are there is someone out there who has felt how you’re feeling or been where you are, and they’ll be able to commiserate with you, offer solutions or help, or at least remind you that you aren’t alone. • Read over the following affirmations and words of encouragement. Copy them into a notebook or print them out and post them somewhere you’ll see them frequently. • Back to School Affirmations for Teachers • We See You. We Hear You. We Are With You. • Motivational Words for a Struggling Drama Teacher • What Is the Best Thing About Being a Drama Teacher? • Why Drama Class Matters More Than Ever, Even in Challenging Times • 10 Reminders That What You’re Doing as a Drama Teacher Matters • Keep your creative cup full. Attend a show you didn’t direct, read a play just for fun, or take up a hobby that has nothing to do with school or drama class, just for you: painting, yoga, singing in a choir, dance class, sculpting, whatever brings you joy.

Being a drama teacher isn’t a full-time job… it’s TWO full-time jobs! Aside from the amount of homework and planning it takes to prepare a full teaching load, there are also the countless responsibilities associated with running a successful theatre program. It can seem difficult, if not impossible, to juggle both of these full-time jobs without burning yourself out. However, it IS possible to balance a full teaching load and thriving theatre program. Here are some tips and tools that veteran drama teachers can use to teach their classes while maintaining and running their programs. Have a planBalancing teaching and production does not happen by accident; it takes a lot of planning. That means you will need to think ahead, organize your responsibilities, and create a plan for how you will successfully execute all your activities. Envision the steps necessary to keep both your classroom and your theatre running smoothly, and start putting pieces in place to make sure those steps happen. Keep in mind that due to circumstances beyond your control, some of your plans might not always work out, but remember: the more you plan for the future, the less scary that future becomes. Having a plan gives you a path to follow and makes it more likely that you will complete the journey. Be preparedPreparation goes hand in hand with planning. There is no worse feeling than standing in front of a group of students and being unprepared. Whether you are preparing lesson plans, or are generating the necessary paperwork for the next after school audition, being prepared for events before students walk through the door is the difference between a panic attack and a walk in the park. The stress of being unprepared will burn you out faster than almost anything else in the world of teaching, so use your planning period as effectively as possible and take the time to prepare ahead of time whenever possible. DelegateThere are a LOT of responsibilities associated with having two full-time jobs. That is why you should delegate as many appropriate responsibilities as possible. From having students distribute and collect papers in your classroom, to giving parents the authority to build set pieces off site, any tasks that you can take off your plate will give you the breathing room to manage the responsibilities that you CANNOT delegate, such as grading papers or directing the show. Furthermore, delegating responsibilities throughout the production process has the additional benefits of providing students with valuable leadership opportunities and greater ownership of the production. Self-careThe key to a long and successful career is self-care. The most successful drama teachers know that they need to take a break every now and again to reset their brain and recharge their batteries, otherwise they run the risk of burning out. Balancing full-time teaching with a successful theatre program is exhausting under the best of circumstances, and if you don’t take the time to unplug, you won’t last more than a handful of years before you crash and burn. Take the time you need to step away from the stresses of teaching and producing and connect with your family and friends. Unplug for the weekend or plan a trip for spring break, knowing that your classes and your program will be there when you get back. An occasional investment in yourself will pay dividends in sustaining your long-term career plans. Additional Reading: How do I maintain work/life balance as a drama teacher? Drama Teacher Self-Care (And No, We Don’t Mean Candles and Bubble Baths) 20 Self-Care Actions For Drama Teachers

Welcome to our video series, Calling All Theatre Teachers! In this series we’re going to answer questions that drama teachers have about stepping into a theatre program. QUESTION: How do I maintain work/life balance as a theatre teacher? Watch the video of our discussion of this question — Laramie shares what he does at the end of every show or big project to help him with work/life balance. Click the link below for a worksheet to help you organize your thoughts on maintaining work/life balance on a weekly basis. How do you maintain work/life balance?

If students are feeling stressed or anxious, it can be helpful to share some techniques and exercises to help them calm down, regulate themselves, and re-centre, so they can go about the rest of their day feeling a bit better. The drama classroom is often a safe haven for students. Maybe they’re worried about their upcoming audition, maybe they’re feeling anxious about participating in an improv exercise, or maybe they’re holding stress from a prior class or an event earlier in the day. If you’ve got a few minutes to fill, notice a tense or stressed-out student, or need a quick activity to switch up the energy of the room, try one of these mindfulness activities. They can be condensed or expanded to fit any amount of time required. And teachers — you might even find these activities useful if you’re feeling stressed out yourself! 1. Have students pause, stand, and stretch their bodies. Start at the top of the head and move down through the body — neck, shoulders, arms and hands, torso, hips, legs, feet. Or, lead them in a brief yoga sequence. 2. Have students sit or lie on the floor, and lead them through a visualization story or meditation. (As an extension of this activity, after students have had a few opportunities to participate in this exercise, have them write their own visualization stories, and then have them lead the exercise.) 3. Do an energy pass circle. Have students stand in a circle and hold hands with the students on either side of them. Have one student gently squeeze the hand of the student next to them. That student will then gently squeeze the hand of the person next to them, and so on around the entire circle. Once the squeeze has been sent around the circle, have students do the exercise again, only this time with their hands crossed in front of them, and then re-joining hands. Students will need to stand closer to each other to do the second energy pass. 4. Have students say out loud or write something kind about themselves. 5. Have students say out loud or write something that they’re proud of, or something that they’ve learned or accomplished in drama class. 6. Have students give a classmate a compliment. (For suggestions 4, 5, and 6, you could also have students write these prompts on a Post-it Note and stick them up somewhere in your classroom as a positivity display.) 7. Think about the characters in the play you’re currently studying or in rehearsals for. What mindfulness activities or exercises do you think they might do? For bonus points, do those activities. 8. Try one of the following breathing exercises: • Box breathing: inhale for four counts, hold the breath for four counts, exhale for four counts, hold the breath for four counts, and repeat as many times as you wish. • Flower breathing: imagine that you are holding a flower with a long stem. In your head, visualize the flower: what kind of flower is it? What colour is it? What scent does it have? Use your hands to mime picking the flower and holding it gently in front of you. Breathe in through the nose the “scent” of the imaginary flower for four counts, then exhale out the mouth for four counts. Repeat as many times as you wish. • Laugh breathing: inhale for four counts, then exhale in four short bursts while saying “ha” and then a final slow “ha” at the end, exhaling all the breath remaining. It will feel/sound like this: inhale… ha, ha, ha, ha, haaaaaaaaa. Repeat as many times as you wish, changing the vowels of the exhale each round (hee hee hee, hi hi hi, ho ho ho, etc.) or varying the volume. 9. Do a “stop and sense” check. Identify the following: • Five things you can SEE • Four things you can TOUCH • Three things you can HEAR • Two things you can SMELL • One thing you can TASTE (What does the inside of your mouth currently taste like? Coffee? A mint? Your lunch?) Bonus points if the identifications are related to theatre or drama class. 10. Do a massage chain. Have students sit in a circle, facing the back of the person in front of them. (Students with long hair will need to tuck their hair over their shoulder or tie it back.) With students’ consent, students will place their hands on the shoulders and/or upper back of the student in front of them, and give them a gentle massage. Gentle two-finger taps or karate chops with the side of the hand can feel good too. After an agreed-upon amount of time has passed, have students turn and massage the shoulders of the student who was previously massaging them. Again, be sure students get consent from the student ahead of them before placing their hands on them. Additional Resources:3 Mindfulness Techniques to Combat Pre-Show Nerves Round-Up: Health & Fitness for Drama Students Closure Practices for the Drama Classroom

Whether you’re a brand-new teacher or an established teacher with a couple of years of teaching under your belt, completing these five tasks will be the key to getting your school year off to a successful start: 1. Set up your classroom. 2. Prepare your curriculum. 3. Establish classroom rules and expectations. 4. Plan ensemble-building activities. 5. Rest and reflect. 1. Set up your classroom.Making sure your classroom is ready is job one. If you’re a new teacher, this will be your first chance to see your assigned classroom space. This will also be true if you have recently transferred schools or been assigned to a new classroom. No matter the circumstances, it’s crucial that you prepare your classroom space so it’s ready for students: organize your teaching areas, arrange the student seating, and make sure you have all the supplies you need, from furniture to extra pencils. Creating a well-thought-out and organized classroom space will set the tone for your entire year, so take the time now to make your space as efficient and effective as possible. For more information about how to set up your classroom, check out the Classroom Setup Toolkit. 2. Prepare your curriculum.The first few weeks of any school year comes hard and fast, and it’s easy to get lost in the weeds with respect to curriculum and lesson planning. There’s no worse feeling than being unprepared in front of a group of students, and the last thing you want to do is fall behind in the first month of school. That’s why it’s a good idea to prepare a number of lessons for each of your classes prior to the first day of school. Plan out your curriculum ahead of time (identifying the subjects you want to cover throughout the year), and have those first lesson plans ready when students come through the door. Being prepared for the first month of teaching buys you time to write the lessons you’ll need in the second month, which prepares you for the third month, and so on. If you need information on how to properly write a lesson plan, take a look at the Lesson Planning Toolkit. 3. Establish classroom rules and expectations.It’s important to have your classroom management plan in place before you begin to interact with students. Things move quickly in the drama classroom, and once you have students in front of you you won’t have the time or mental capacity to create your classroom rules or expectations. That’s why you need to have those rules and expectations ready to go on day one. When you have rules and expectations in place on the first day of school, you can spend the first month enforcing the rules instead of creating them. If you need some guidance on setting up your classroom rules, you can find the top five discipline mistakes teachers make here. 4. Plan ensemble-building activities.Building ensemble in the drama classroom is vital. Our classes require students to engage in creative problem solving and unconventional thinking, as well as physical and emotional risk taking. This demands vulnerability from our students, and that vulnerability cannot exist without trust. Theatre games and activities are a fantastic way to build trust in the drama classroom. These low-stakes activities allow students to work together and have fun. Through games, students work together to build ensemble and establish trust. That sense of ensemble is crucial for the more complex and challenging assignments to come, such as performing monologues and scenes. Building ensemble is an investment that will pay off over the course of the school year, so put together a list of your favorite ensemble-building activities and be ready to execute them in the first few days of school. You can find some useful ensemble-building activities here. 5. Rest and reflect.If you have never been a full-time teacher before, or if you’re teaching theatre for the first time, you may not be prepared for how physically demanding this subject is. New theatre teachers are often exhausted in the first few weeks of school, and that exhaustion can affect every aspect of your teaching. That’s why it’s important to take time in the first few days of school to rest and reflect. Pace yourself and make sure you practice self-care as often as necessary. Do what you need to do to disengage from your teaching duties and recharge your batteries. Give yourself the headspace to reflect on successes and challenges you encountered during those first few weeks of school, and allow those reflections to positively influence your teaching. The school year is a marathon, not a sprint, and small investments in your mental and physical well-being now will pay dividends throughout the school year. Take some time now to develop simple strategies to take care of yourself.

Most drama teachers find that their summers are just as busy as the school year. There are always lots of things to do. Let us help you get organized with some suggestions for tasks you can complete in the summer to set yourself up for success come September. We’ve even included a handy checklist at the bottom of this post. 1. Rest, relax, reconnect.Many drama teachers are one-person wonders, meaning they do almost everything themselves. From lesson planning to directing and producing shows, it can get lonely and isolating. And you’re likely working in a classroom, shop, or auditorium with no windows! So before you start any other tasks, TAKE A BREAK. Even for a day. Even for an hour. Rest! Get outside, get some natural light and fresh air, and recharge your batteries. Reconnect with your family and friends. You can’t pour from an empty cup, so refill yours first (both metaphorically and literally — enjoy some tasty beverages and good food while you’re at it!) before jumping into drama class tasks. 2. Review, reflect, revamp.What went well? What didn’t go so well? What lessons did your students love? Which ones didn’t resonate with them? What lessons would be better suited for older or younger grades? Take some time to review your year and your lessons, reflect on what you and your students did (journaling is great for this), and refresh your lesson plans. The Drama Teacher Academy is a great resource to find new lessons to add to your repertoire. 3. Refresh your inventory.Clean out and purge your costume and prop stocks. Go through your tech equipment and see what needs repairing or replenishing. Check your classroom supplies and see what needs tossing — dried out markers, scrap paper, and so on. Make a detailed master inventory list of what you have, and make a second list of what you need to purchase. 4. Read and see theatre.Order some perusals, visit the library, and read some new plays. This is not only helpful for season planning and classroom scene study material, but also for your creative inspiration. While you’re at it (and if your budget allows), get out and see some shows this summer. Allow yourself to enjoy being an audience member, and get your creative juices flowing for future productions. 5. Rejuvenate your own theatrical life.Work on or act in a community theatre show. Join an improv group. Take a dance class. Attend a theatre conference. Study stage combat. Work at a summer theatre camp. Join an online drama teacher group. Bring out your arts and crafts supplies and make/build something. Write anything — scenes, character sketches, song lyrics, whatever you like. Travel, if possible. Gather inspiration from new and different sources, so you can return to classes in September brimming with energy and ready to take on the new school year.

It’s a new school year and in the hustle and bustle of getting classrooms organized, learning students’ names, and completing all the start-of-term tasks, please take a moment to pause, breathe, and centre yourself. Remember that you’re a good teacher and the work you’re doing is important. Feel free to use the affirmations below if you ever need a quick reminder. Print them out and hang them up, copy them into your notebook or planner, or write them in a card and give them to all your teacher friends and colleagues. Let’s get this term off to a great start! 1. I am an excellent teacher. 2. I give my best effort every day, remembering that my best can fluctuate from day to day. 3. Last year is in the past. This year is a fresh start. 4. I am starting this year with a clean slate. 5. I let go of expectations of perfection. 6. I feel confident asking for help when I need it. 7. Remember that it’s called a “play” for a reason. 8. I have the opportunity to share a subject I love with my students. 9. I am allowed to learn, fail, and try again with my students. 10. I will re-frame problems as learning opportunities. 11. I trust my skills, education, and knowledge. 12. I am not afraid to ask for help. 13. If I don’t know something, I can look it up! 14. I am learning alongside my students. 15. The work I do matters. 16. The process is equally as important as the product. 17. I will celebrate growth and wins, no matter how big or small. 18. My program is my program, and I won’t compare it to anyone else’s. 19. My program is valuable and teaches students important skills. 20. This is going to be a great year! Don’t forget that Theatrefolk and the Drama Teacher Academy are here to support you with plays, resources, lesson plans, and more. Please reach out — we’re happy to help. Additional Resources: • Drama Teachers: We See You. We Hear You. We Are With You. • Motivational Words for a Struggling Drama Teacher • Helping Drama Students Succeed Part 3: The Introvert(scroll to the bottom of the article to find a list of theatrical affirmations)

Teachers are special people. Yes, you are! You do so much for your students and wear so many different hats. But teachers are human as well. You may feel frustrated with your students’ apparent lack of interest or effort. You may feel that your students are not performing at their pre-pandemic level. You may notice that things are taking longer than they used to. And all of that is true. While things have changed drastically since March 2020, we are still dealing with the fallout of the pandemic. Students, teachers, and parents are still getting sick. Students are re-learning how to function in the real world. Their focus and stamina are low, and their coping skills have been stretched and tested. We’re all sick of pivoting. Thanks to social media, students are also acutely aware of current political issues and more in tune with their mental health. It’s a lot to deal with, on top of the regular problems of teenage existence. So it’s no wonder that students may not be living up to our previous expectations. It’s too much pressure. Rather than thinking that you have to lower your expectations of your students, look at it as adjusting your expectations. Sometimes we get caught up in the drama of drama class, and we need to pause and re-frame things. So take a deep breath and read the following five tips for adjusting your expectations — not only for your students, but also for yourself. 1. Find out what students need.Your students are likely trying their best. Remember that they are re-learning social and emotional skills and that their best may change from day to day. Observe your students during class and see where they’re struggling. Ask them what they need to succeed. Do they need more rehearsal time? More time to practice new skills? Do they need shorter scenes, or alternative lesson plans? For example, if you have a class of reluctant performers, could they focus on analysis, tech work, assistant directing, or playwriting? The Drama Teacher Academy (please include link) has over 1000 lesson plans to help you mix it up. 2. Simplify.If you’re working on a production, what can you simplify? Before you begin, can you choose a shorter script or cast fewer actors? Does your set have to be entirely built from scratch, or can it be simple curtains or a few flats? Does every costume need to be hand-sewn, or can you rent or borrow from another school or a local theatre? If you’re directing a musical, could you reduce a four-part harmony to two or three parts? Can choreography be simplified (time permitting, of course)? Simplifying your show helps your students by reducing the extra “stuff” and allowing them to focus on their lines and character work. Be gentle with yourself and know that it is ok to simplify. Don’t hold yourself to impossible standards. On that note… 3. Adjust your expectations of yourself.You may also not be operating at full capacity at the moment. Teaching drama can be exhausting (especially if you’re doing additional work such as directing a show, organizing a fundraiser, or supervising the drama club) and you may be burnt out. Your students will likely pick up on how you’re feeling, and you don’t want to push yourself towards illness. Try to delegate or eliminate some tasks if possible — perhaps a student teacher, assistant director, or volunteer team member can help. Know that, like your students, your best will be different depending on the day. 4. Rebuild and restructure.It’s taking longer for students to learn right now. Accept it, and let it go. Look at this as a time to rebuild and restructure in your drama department. Curriculum evolves and changes over time. Go back to the basics and help your students build a solid foundation of skills they can develop. If you’re doing a class or school production, you may want to add a few more rehearsals to your schedule than you usually do. You can always cancel a couple rehearsals closer to showtime if you find that your students are doing better than you expected. 5. Remember that drama class is supposed to be fun!Yes, we have a lot to teach, work to be assigned, and grades to give out, but when it comes to creating theatrical pieces in the drama classroom, I don’t know about you, but I believe the point of drama is to be fun and entertaining! Don’t get bogged down in the details. A theatrical piece is called a “play,” so let yourselves play and enjoy the process.

Wow — we’ve made it to the end of the year. Teaching has looked very different recently, but give yourselves a pat on the back for a job well done. We have the opportunity now to rest, reflect, and rejuvenate, so we can start the new year fresh, armed with the knowledge and experiences that have gotten us through the year. Take a few moments to think back over your teaching experiences, and jot down any feelings or ideas that arise. Think about how your experiences this year have shaped you and your style of teaching. Whether you’ve been teaching online, in person, or a combination of both, you have accomplished a lot! Be proud of the work you’ve done, and enjoy a well-earned break. 1. How do you feel right now compared to the start of the year? How are you the same? How are you different 2. What have you learned this year? 3. What has worked well? How can you do more of that next year? 4. What hasn’t worked so well? How can you adjust it to make it work better in the future? Or, could you eliminate it entirely? 5. How have you grown and changed as an educator? 6. Did you feel supported by your administration this year? Why or why not 7. How were you able to advocate for yourself/your students/your program? 8. What has been your biggest win this year? Describe it in detail. How did you feel afterwards? How can you continue this success going forward? 9. What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced? How did you overcome it? Can you re-frame it to become a learning experience? 10. What was the funniest thing that happened this term? Check out the following articles for more reflection questions: • Exercise: Year End Reflection (For Students) • Do You Still Have Passion for Teaching Theatre?

When was the last time you partook in some self-care? Does the thought of self-care feel indulgent or like something you have to earn or treat yourself to? What if you made sure self-care was a part of every single day? When we take care of ourselves on a daily basis, we are better equipped to be happy, healthy, and successful drama teachers — and happy, healthy, and successful human beings. Let’s start small, with twelve days of drama teacher self-care. Try the following low-cost, low-tech, and low-stress self-care suggestions, because you deserve it. The order doesn’t matter; what matters is that you feel refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to take on your next challenge. 1. Release some tension. If you wear your hair up, take it down. Put on some loose, comfy clothing. Stretch your body. Take a long, hot shower. If you can, book a massage. Unclench your jaw and take your tongue down off the roof of your mouth. (I bet you didn’t realize you were doing that!) 2. Unplug. Close your laptop, silence your devices, turn off the lights, and enjoy even five minutes of screen-free time. If you think you’ll be tempted to check your phone, put it in another room. 3. Get outside , even if it’s cold or rainy. There’s a Scandinavian phrase that says, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” Bundle up and go get some fresh air, even if it’s just a walk to the end of the block and back. The fresh air will clear your mind and get your blood flowing. 4. Ask for help. Whether you need help with lesson plans, advice for your upcoming virtual show, or just someone to listen to you vent, you don’t have to do everything yourself. Use one of Theatrefolk’s exercises, ask colleagues to share a successful lesson plan with you, or ask your administrators for advice and support. You’re not alone! 5. Reflect. Write down a happy memory from a past drama class or show, describe a funny incident during a recent lesson, or think about a sweet message you’ve received from your drama students. Create a folder in your email inbox called “Happy” (or similar) where you can collect nice messages and look back on them. See below for a reflection on things that bring you joy. 6. Delegate. Divide students into small groups, assign each group a different topic, and let them lead the class. If you have a student teacher for your class or an assistant director for your virtual production, have them take over some lesson planning, rehearsal scheduling, marking, or warm-ups as applicable. 7. Refresh your surroundings. Take a break from work and give your workspace a good once-over. This is especially important if you are teaching via distance learning and are working from home. Clear any clutter off your desk and organize your paperwork. Consider rearranging the space. For example, what if you were to move your desk closer to the window? Add one thing to your workspace that brings you joy — a favourite photo, a plant, a pack of pens that actually work, a poster from a past production. Break up that stagnant energy! 8. Rest. You may be getting sleep, but are you getting enough quality sleep? Could you benefit from a new pillow, a fan in your room, or a white noise machine or app? If you have a television in your bedroom, challenge yourself to keep it off for a week and see how your sleep improves. Review your bedtime routine. Is it conducive to sleep (low lights, a warm bath, a good book, screens off), or are you inadvertently winding yourself up (exercising or eating too close to bedtime, working in bed, staying up too late)? 9. Have a laugh. Laughing increases endorphins, reduces feelings of stress, and even helps improve your immune system. Do a comedy unit or improvisation exercises with your students, with the goal of making you laugh. Share clips of hilarious scenes from plays or musicals with your students. 10. Share your passion with others. Share your favourite play, musical, scene, actor’s performance, musical number, theatre book, song, or monologue with your students. Explain why you love it. Your students will pick up on your joy. Have students share their favourites with you. 11. Say yes. To accepting help. To believing in yourself and your students. To drinking lots of water and eating food that makes you feel good. To getting a good night’s sleep. To single-tasking, rather than multi-tasking. To stepping away from the computer. To putting your phone down. To taking breaks. To taking time for yourself, without shame. To setting boundaries. To “refilling your cup,” however that looks for you. To practicing self-care on a daily basis. 12. Say no. To feelings of having to be perfect. To negative self-talk. To guilt for “not doing enough.” To “should-ing” on yourself (“I should be working more, I should be coming up with better lesson plans, I should…”). To taking on a virtual or in-person production, or any other extracurricular event, if you are not feeling physically or mentally up to it. For more on self-care: • Drama Teacher Self-Care (And No, We Don’t Mean Candles and Bubble Baths) • 20 Self-Care Actions for Drama Teachers

The term “self-care” is often met with eye-rolling and sarcastic laughter. We equate self-care with basking in a Jacuzzi with a fancy drink, taking a luxury cruise, or “treating yo’self” with a shopping spree. We’re drama teachers – we don’t have time for that! However, we must re-frame our thoughts about self-care, and make it a daily practice. Self-care is vital to our day-to-day lives, and without it, we end up exhausted, burnt out, or sick. Without self-care, we are no good to anyone else. Here are some important things to consider about self-care: *1. Self-care is both proactive and reactive. *Proactive self-care involves taking care of yourself before you end up sick or burnt out. This includes listening to yourself and being aware of personal cues that may indicate that you’re heading towards burnout. For example, you might feel tension in your body, have a headache, feel your heart racing, get sweaty or clammy, or start snapping at your loved ones. Everyone has different cues. If you notice you are experiencing these cues, that’s an indication that you need to pause and give yourself some care before things get worse. Reactive self-care involves doing things to help yourself heal once you’ve noticed that you are stressed or unwell. Making proactive self-care a part of your daily life can reduce the amount of reactive self-care you’ll need. 2. Self-care is not selfish.You deserve to be treated well, not only by others, but also by yourself. This can be hard for teachers to accept because we give a lot of ourselves to our students, administrators, friends, and family members. Sometimes it seems like there’s nothing left over for us. We tend to just keep pushing through, skipping meals and staying up late to get everything on our to-do lists completed, until we are exhausted. Would you treat a valued friend this way – cracking a metaphorical whip and pushing them to the brink? Then why would you treat yourself that way? If you’re still not sold, consider this. If you’ve ever been on an airplane, in case of emergency, the flight attendants instruct you to put your own facemask on before helping others. As drama teachers, we stretch ourselves to the limit to create interesting and engaging lessons, learn about new technology and distance teaching methods, and do everything under the sun related to producing shows, reading new scripts, and being there for our students. But we cannot adequately do our jobs if we do not take care of ourselves. You cannot serve others from an empty plate, and you cannot give more and more of your time, energy, and talents when you have not cared for yourself first. 3. The act of self-care is a practice.Just like you have your students practice skills they’ve learned in the drama classroom, self-care is also a practice. Because we have smartphones and tablets and are always connected to the Internet, we are encouraged to always be available and ready to jump into action. It can be hard to slow down and take time to care for ourselves. There will be times when you forget. When that happens, be gentle with yourself, and do some reactive self-care. As with any skill, practice makes progress. It’s important that your students see you practicing self-care as well. Actions always speak louder than words, and modeling self-care will help your students practice it themselves. 4. Re-frame your thoughts about self-care.We joked about candles and bubble baths, and while they’re great and certainly can be included in your self-care practice, there are lots of other things that can be considered self-care. Think of things you can do now that will help you avoid burnout in the future. It doesn’t need to be expensive or time-consuming. Little acts of self-care add up to great results, and your Future Self will thank you. Self-care tasks can include: • Making freezer meals that you can easily thaw and defrost during tech week when you don’t feel like cooking, or arranging a meal service if it’s in your budget • Taking on an assistant director, director’s assistant, production assistant, and/or department heads for your next show, so you don’t have to do everything yourself • Learning about mindfulness and wellness exercises that can be adapted for the drama classroom, and practicing with your students • Keeping a fun water bottle on your desk at all times that you enjoy drinking from to stay hydrated • Turning off notifications on your cell phone after a certain time at night, so you aren’t being bugged all the time by emails (let your students and administrators know that you won’t be replying to messages after certain times, and force yourself to stick to that time!) • Writing down your accomplishments and your students’ accomplishments in a journal or on post-its, and re-reading them when you’re feeling down

We’re in the midst of a global pandemic and we’ve been thrown into a situation with many unknowns. We don’t know when we’ll be able to safely see our friends and family in person. We don’t know when we’ll be able to go back to school and our daily lives. We don’t know what life will be like going forward, because things are definitely going to be different. As we collectively figure out our new normal, students and teachers alike are practicing “social distancing” to help reduce health risks. A better phrase might be “physical distancing,” as we can’t actually connect with others in person. We have seen a huge surge in connection through technology, which is great, but not quite the same. And while social distancing is absolutely necessary, it can be a challenge for drama students and teachers to go without that in-person human connection. We hope the following four tips will help you navigate through this challenging time. 1. Get some fresh air, safely.We’ll start with basic needs. Humans are basically houseplants with emotions – we need water, sunlight, and fresh air to thrive. It’s easy to hole up in your house with your phone and mope, or go stir-crazy from lack of activity. When the weather is good, try to get up and get out of the house. Go for a walk around the block (observing proper safety measures), or if that’s too much, just stand at the end of the driveway. If even that’s too much, open a window and let the air and natural light in. Breathe deeply – use this breath control exercise to help. 2. Get physical.With everyone and everything transitioning to life online – distance learning, video chatting, watching movies, and more – we are all at risk for strained eyes and hunchbacks from leaning over our devices. Take a moment right now and notice your body position while you’re reading this article. Are you slouching over your tablet? Curled up in a ball on the couch? Are you holding tension in your shoulders, pursing your lips, or holding your cell phone inches away from your face in the dark? Step away from your device and move your body. Stretch, dance, or sing your favourite tune from a musical. Shake out your hands and feet. Do one of these warm up exercises. Then drink some water. We’ll be here when you’re done! If you’re doing distance learning with your students, I suggest having them do at least a few minutes of physical movement each class, no matter the topic of the class. Get your students to stand and move around their workspaces, shake out their bodies, stretch, and release any tension they might be holding before sitting down to continue the lesson. Or – do they have to sit? Consider having your students do a distance drama lesson in a different position than they usually do. While you are giving instructions, have students take up a different position – standing up, lying on their back with their device on their stomach, sitting upside down on the couch, putting their device on a high shelf and watching from below, and so on. Have students take notice of their bodies and reflect/journal on how they feel in the different position. Do they feel alert, uncomfortable, sleepy, energized? Do they notice different muscles being activated? Are they able to absorb the material better in their choice of position, or do they want to move back to the traditional “sitting upright at a desk” position? *3. It’s okay to grieve. *A lot of what we are currently feeling is grief – the cancellations of our productions, loss of spring break vacations, the possibility of not having a prom, or not knowing whether a proper graduation ceremony will occur. This is particularly hard on our senior students, whose final year of high school is not what they imagined it would be. While we can look at this time as an opportunity to learn coping and resilience, it’s still unfair and sad. Take the time to grieve. Write your feelings about it down to get them out of your brain. Have your students create a monologue or spoken word poetry piece about how they’re feeling. Let your students know that they can talk to you about how they’re feeling, or direct them to another appropriate resource, such as a school counselor or mental health help line. 4. Be gentle with yourselves and others.We have all been thrown into the unknown. We’ve never been through a situation like this before, and we don’t know when it’s going to end. At this point, we all need to prioritize our mental and physical health. Many of us are struggling with uncertainty and loneliness, partners being home, children being home, worries about family and friends we can’t visit, job insecurity, new technology, going to the grocery store safely – it’s a lot to deal with. We’re being told conflicting information – use this time to be super productive, but also use this time to rest. Get online and connect with everyone, learn a new skill, teach your classes as usual – but still make time to be with your family, get outside, limit screen time. We can’t do it all, and that’s okay. We also need to be gentle with others. Students, please know that your teachers care about you. They’re thinking about you, they miss you, and they’re experiencing grief as well – yours and their own. They’re also navigating new technology, trying to move their lessons online, and figuring out how to make it all work for you. This transition can be particularly difficult for drama, which is so community-based and collaborative. Your teachers are worried about you – whether you have access to a computer to complete your classwork, whether you’re getting enough to eat and a good night’s rest, and whether they’ll get to see you in person in the classroom again. When this is all over – and it will be, at some point – I think we will all have a new appreciation for the things we once took for granted. Things like being in each others’ presence, spending time together sharing and creating, and reviewing blocking and choreography “one more time” (it’s never just one more time) will be that much more special. Until then, please stay healthy and safe.

These are uncertain times and it can feel like all of the “norms” we were used to have been thrown out the window. Maintaining a definitive line between work life and home life – when it’s all happening under the same roof – can be challenging. We’ve got ten tips to help you navigate the current situation to keep your focus as positive as possible. *Ten Quarantine Tips for Drama Teachers *1. Get dressed. If you have it, wear jewelry. Put on shoes. It will make the day feel different. It brings a sense of purpose to the day and keeps your body used to it’s old normal. And wear pants with buttons pretty regularly, twice a week. 2. On the weekends take naps, but don’t during the week. Keep a schedule. When you maintain a normal schedule, it helps break up the day. 3. Shake up your workspace. Put yourself in a different spot, and something beautiful in front of you to look at. Give yourself extra light. Sometimes you just need to be in a different space to give you the energy you need for the day. 4. Filter your own Facebook feed. You may be in a lot of different educator groups so that you get as much information as you can. But after a certain time of day, stop looking at anything work related. It becomes easy to work all the time when you’re online. It’s important to have clear boundaries. 5. Just because you’re quarantined, it doesn’t mean you need to stay on a screen or stay inside in your house. Go to wide open spaces, take a walk, go to a park, go out in your backyard, lay in the sun. The vitamin D does a lot. 6. Make yourself something really delicious. It’s not something you do all the time, but once in awhile, go over the top, step away from your screens and connect with whoever is around you. 7. Connect to a co-worker who you would normally see and talk to every day in school. Create connection. Quarantine doesn’t mean isolation. 8. Watch something funny. You may have noticed you haven’t had a good laugh in weeks. Maybe your students haven’t either. Watch something that not just makes you smile, but will make you laugh. Get some laughter into your day. 9. Don’t sit all the time. Spend part of your time on a task that is easy enough to do while standing. 10. Take a minute and celebrate. You are an awesome educator doing something really hard. You are doing a great job. Click here to view all of our Distance Learning resources, exercises and tips

Rehearsing for your school production is hard work. There is an abundance of decisions to be made, students to manage, and schedules to maintain. It can be overwhelming to even the most organized teachers. It can lead to burnout with feelings of frustration, resentment, and exhaustion. If it’s not dealt with in a timely manner, it can even make you sick. Students get burnt out too, which will manifest as a lack of energy or reduced focus in rehearsals, and a general feeling of dissatisfaction. If you or your students (or both) are dealing with rehearsal burnout, try the following four tips to help ease these feelings: 1. Mix it up. You’ve been hard at work blocking, running and reviewing, but things are getting stagnant. Your students look like they’d rather be anywhere but in the rehearsal space. If rehearsals are dragging or blending together, try doing something different for one rehearsal. Try rehearsing “backwards”or go back to basics and work on volume, diction, enunciation, and posture. You could have your students do different character analysis work, such as figuring out what their character wants or thinking of their characters as animals. You won’t do this at every rehearsal, but running a rehearsal or two a little differently than usual can help break up the monotony. You can get back to your usual methods later. 2. Switch leaders. If possible, get someone else to lead a rehearsal for you. Your students will benefit from the new perspective, and you will get a break. If you are directing a musical, have your choreographer or musical director lead rehearsal. Perhaps you can have a vocal or dance bootcamp day on which students review and polish songs and dances. Getting rehearsal coverage can be a bit more difficult if you are directing a play by yourself, but there are still some possibilities. If you have a student director, let them lead rehearsal (you still will need to be in the room for supervision if the student director is underage, but let the student director be in charge). Perhaps you could get a drama teacher friend or theatrical colleague to come in and act as a play polisher. Or perhaps a local theatrical professional could come in and teach a masterclass to your students. On that note… 3. Create a connection. If your play has a theme, perhaps you can arrange for an expert in that area to come in and speak to your students about it, or lead a related workshop. For example, a colleague of mine who directed Sunday in the Park with George had a professional artist come in and teach the students about pointillism, the technique used by the artist Georges Seurat. The students also got to create a small painting using that technique. For a production of Chariots of Fire at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, the actors received training from professional running coaches at Western University. How can you create a similar connection for your show? 4. Take a break. This may sound crazy, but if you are burnt out, sometimes the best thing you can do is take a true break and cancel a rehearsal. It can be beneficial to everyone involved in the show to take some time away, reset themselves, and come back refreshed. This is one reason why it’s a good idea to include a few TBA/TBD rehearsals in your schedule. Most of the time you’ll use those rehearsals to work on something that needs extra time or review, but if what everyone needs is a break, then cancelling a rehearsal is not wasted time.

Self-care is not selfish. It is necessary and important to your effectiveness as a teacher, and really is the best gift you can give both yourself and your students. Too busy putting everyone else’s needs first to know where to begin with your own? We’ve got 20 suggestions for self-care to get you started: 1. Take one day off. 2. Decide one thing to stop doing. Not everything, just one thing. 3. Say no to one thing. Not everything, just one thing. 4. Let one thing go. So your costumes won’t be perfect or authentic. 5. Ask for help for one task. From a student, a colleague, or your admin. 6. Make one personal appointment: the gym, yoga, hair/nails, etc. Write it down and keep it. 7. Pick one song, put on your headphones, close your eyes and be with the song. 8. Do one task at home: clean a room, do the laundry. Not all the tasks, just one. 9. Set an “end of work time” for the day. 10. Focus on one thing you can do today and do that. 11. Get air. Go outside for five minutes. Breathe. 12. Drink water. Eat a vegetable.Take a vitamin. 13. Actually have lunch. Don’t grade, don’t plan, give that time to yourself. 14. Watch five minutes of something that makes you laugh. 15. Talk to your best friend for five minutes. 16. If you have a free minute, instead of checking your phone, sit with your eyes closed. 17. Find your outlet. If you’re stressed, how can you get it out? 18. Set boundaries for work email and social media. Set a time when you stop responding. 19. Acknowledge your effort. You are working hard for your students. 20. Take a health review: mental health, physical health, sleep health, relationship health. Be aware that in order to do your best work, you need to take care of yourself.

As theatre educators and do-it-all directors, we frequently feel the tell-tale signs of burnout. There is so much that must be done – lesson planning and preparation, marking, staff meetings, administrative updates, professional development days, classroom management. And then there are also the feelings that arise while working on a production: the “I can’t, I have rehearsal” replies to invitations, the frequent coffee refills, the never-ending to-do list, the growing piles of laundry and dishes at home, the “I just have one little question” statement that turns into many questions – it’s enough to drive a teacher mad. Sometimes it feels like there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done. If you feel like you are headed towards burnout (or are already in the throes of it), read the following four tips. And know that you aren’t alone – check out the Theatrefolk Facebook page to chat with a community full of teachers who will know just how you are feeling right now. 1. Stop. Assess. Prioritize.Look over your to-do list and make some decisions. What is the most important thing you need to get done today? This week? This month? What tasks can be put on hold? What could be delegated to someone else? Use your planner and schedule your day accordingly. Be sure to account for “extra” time requirements outside of regular class time or rehearsals, such as travel time and preparation (for example, the time spent pre-planning your blocking or choreographing a dance). At the end of the day, look back and compare how you actually spent your time with the schedule you set. Be honest with yourself about how you used your time. Did you procrastinate on a task you really don’t want to do? Have you been scrolling through Facebook and Twitter when you were supposed to be working on your props list? Did you get sidetracked looking through old cast photos? 2. Delegate.This is a difficult one for those of us who think it’s easier to simply “do it ourselves” – but trying to do everything without assistance is the quickest road to burnout. Reach out and ask for help. Delegate tasks to others. When you’re working on a show, look for student assistants, parent/community volunteers, other classes, and colleagues to help out. This way you can free up your time for tasks that only you can do. Also, you are providing wonderful learning and leadership opportunities for others. For your actual drama classes, why not reach out and collaborate with other drama teachers in your school district for different lessons and materials. They might have an interesting or unique approach to a unit that you hadn’t thought of. Looking for resources, right now? Why not check out our Drama Teacher Academy! DTA is full of individual lesson plans, units, curriculum, and more. 3. Set boundaries.If you are glued to your phone and have a 24/7 open-access policy, you are going to eventually start to feel smothered and resentful. Set teaching drama office hours and stick to them. Further to that, don’t answer emails or texts after a certain time. Put your phone away and close your laptop. Students and parents may inadvertently be taking advantage of you if you are always available, and you will start to feel like you are constantly on call. You should also sit down and reflect upon how many projects you take on during the school year. Honestly determine how many projects you can take on without making yourself ill. If you can’t do the annual haunted Halloween event plus a fall play plus the February coffeehouse fundraiser plus a spring musical (plus, plus, plus…) then SAY NO and stick to it! You are only one person and there are only so many hours in the day. It is also good and healthy for your students to see you modeling positive boundary behaviours. 4. Take care of your health.If you constantly push yourself to the limit, you will get sick. If you get sick, you will be no good to anyone – let alone yourself. The standard rules apply here: eat healthfully, bring snacks so you don’t get hangry, drink lots of water throughout the day, exercise as often as you can, get outside and breathe some fresh air, and get adequate sleep. And don’t forget to focus on your mental health. If you are frequently stressed out and anxious, those feelings will trickle down to your students. And that does not create a very positive learning environment. Take advantage of any mental health services that are available to you, reach out to colleagues to chat (and/or vent), and try to carve out a little bit of time that is not theatre-related. Read a book, go to a movie or concert, or take a class. Spend time with family and friends who don’t do theatre. Remember, there is a whole world out there beyond the auditorium, and the drama classroom will be waiting patiently for you when you’re ready to come back.

Once a show has finished, the “post-show blues” often hit students. This can have a number of symptoms, including obsessively quoting lines and song lyrics from the show, starting every story with “remember that time during the show,” missing their “show family,” wondering what to do with their suddenly very free calendar, and a general feeling of malaise, funk, or emptiness. These feelings are very normal and will probably affect every drama student at some point during their time in the drama department. If your students are feeling the post-show blues, give them this list to review. Encourage them to complete the items on the list, and see how they feel afterwards. Teachers may find these tasks helpful as well – post-show blues aren’t limited to the students! *1. Allow yourself time to rest and relax *You’ve probably been go-go-go for a while now, between final rehearsals and performances. Now is the time to sit back and rest, and allow yourself to rejuvenate. Take care of your body and skin (especially after very strenuous shows, or shows using heavy makeup), eat some healthy food, drink lots of water, and nap. You need to keep your strength up – it’s common for students to get sick after a show, as they’ve been pushing themselves to the limit and their adrenaline has been on high gear. 2. Get back to “real life”Get caught up on any homework or assignments that you got behind on during show week. Go through your planner and get re-organized. Get caught up on your chores at home. Don’t necessarily jump right into another show right away. You may think it’s a good way to distract yourself from feeling lonely or bored without a show in your life, but it can lead to burnout. Your body and mind need to rest and get back to normal life. 3. Spend some extra time with family and friendsYour family and friends outside the production have probably been very patient with you while you were busy doing the show. Spend some time doing something with them that’s unrelated to the production, and try not to talk too much about how much you miss your show. 4. Think about what you learnedThink about what you learned and what this production meant to you. Did you make new friends? Learn a new skill? Try a different aspect of theatre (for example, working backstage when you normally act)? Reflect on what you’ve learned – you may even want to write about the experience in your journal. *Click the link below * for a free list of journal prompts for your reflection. 5. Thank your fellow cast and crew membersKeep in touch with them. Send them an email or text message, or for goodness sake, pick up the phone and call them. If you’re really missing them, arrange a reunion – anything from a dinner out to a movie night to a simple backyard hangout. (Just make sure everyone is invited – it’s no fun to find out after the fact that only an exclusive few were invited to get together.) 6. Print out those cast photosCreate a show scrapbook. Or upload your pictures to Facebook, share them on Instagram, or create a YouTube slideshow (set to songs from the show, of course). Oh, the memories!