3 Memorable Teacher Mantras to Live by in Tough Times

Today, I want to share three teacher mantras that have been guiding me the last few weeks.

Before we get to the teacher mantras, a caveat: I am not great a meditation: my mind wanders and I start cataloguing chores and grocery lists. I’m also not a yogi: I can’t keep track of the poses, and eventually my wrists start to hurt. If you have those talents, my hat’s off to you!

However, despite my limited mystic credentials, as we get closer to Spring Break, I find myself returning to these teacher mantras more often, so I wanted to share them with you in case you’re also feeling the third quarter blues.

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Mantra for Emotional Regulation

As third-quarter fatigue sets in, it gets harder for students and teachers to regulate. There are lots of mindfulness techniques to try and to model for students. I just don’t have those techniques on speed dial; maybe someday I’ll automatically reach for box breathing or a similar technique, but that reflex is a work in progress.

Instead, when a student steps on my last nerve (usually unintentionally), I try to remind myself all emotions are temporary; no emotion is permanent.

When I feel annoyed, anxious, exhausted, or anything in between, I lean on this mantra. My therapist calls this emotion surfing. Noticing and naming an emotion helps me recognize it. Being aware of the emotion makes me less likely to respond glibly in the moment. Once I’ve recognize the emotion, I can accept and work through it.

Mantra for Mental Health

I’ve often written about the importance of classroom procedures. Classroom procedures and routines help make a class feel safe and predictable. They clarify expectations and provide students with a set of “guard rails” or bumpers.

As teachers, we sometimes forget that what’s good for our students is also good for us. If procedures and routines are important for students, then they are also valuable for us. Similarly, if procedures and routines are important inside the classroom, then they are also important outside of the classroom.

I have a hard time remembering that. Or, more accurately, I know it but sometimes ignore it.

That’s where this teacher mantra becomes important: mental health takes work.

A common educational myth is the idea that teachers are candles who burn themselves down for others, but that’s a dangerous belief. That’s how teachers burnout; education doesn’t need martyrs, it needs healthy professionals.

A few years ago, my word of the year was sustainable (followed by sustain). At the time, my goal was to build sustainable habits, including building boundaries between my personal and professional lives. A few years later, I chose the word protect in an effort to maintain those boundaries.

Clearly, building boundaries is difficult, and this mantra constantly reminds me that the procedures and routines that protect my mental health take time and effort. There’s a necessary vigilance required to protect your mental health. I keep this mantra close to my heart because nothing about mental health comes easily.

Growth Mindset Mantra

As I cycle through teacher mantras, this one is the newest to me. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that this one came from social media.

In particular, I find myself reaching for this mantra when I get too big for my britches. Sometimes a lesson flops or the day doesn’t go as planned. When that happens, I try to think: there’s something I can learn from this.

Growth mindset is something teachers emphasize with students, but it’s important for teachers, too. I actually think this teacher mantra underlines the previous teacher mantras. In other words, I can learn from opportunities practice emotional regulation and from learning to practice enforcing my mental health boundaries.

There are no perfect teachers (or people), but these teacher mantras have been helpful to me. I hope these teacher mantras can be beneficial for you, too!

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