Updated article originally published March 5, 2021.
Remote education during COVID-19 has significantly impacted educators. Educators at all levels have had a heavy load to carry from an abrupt pivot in teaching methodologies to provide additional support for students who may be struggling academically, socially, and mentally.
Many educators and teaching staff try to push through their burnout, determined to carry on as usual. However, this approach is taken at the expense of their health and wellbeing. If self-care and other good habits are not adopted, instructors can find themselves burned out and unable to offer their mentorship and support to students. Here are some ways to reframe your daily routine to ensure you are supporting your mental and physical health so that you can give your best to your students every day.
Plan a healthier daily routine
There are many different ways to build a healthy routine, but all of them begin with being intentional about your time and energy. For some people, waking up at 6 AM to exercise is the best way to keep themselves feeling their best. For others, taking time for themselves each morning to unwind and relax is essential to starting their day on the right foot.
A healthy daily routine looks different for each person. Still, at minimum, your daily routine should include regular, nutritious meals, a consistent amount of sleep, personal time to pursue hobbies and interests, and exercise to keep you physically healthy.
If you do not have a regular daily routine, work on building one today. This consistency can help keep you calm and organized, even on the busiest days.
Consciously build social networks
Working at home without seeing your colleagues in person can be incredibly isolating. Even if you live with a partner, family, or roommates, it can be difficult if they do not understand the nuances and challenges of your work.
It is often revitalizing to check in with colleagues, peers, and mentors, so you can share your challenges and work on solutions together. Take time to cultivate the social networks you have already created through work and your career, or step out and connect with educators’ broader community on social media or education-centric platforms.
Control work-life balance
With educators spending more time online than ever before, you can find yourself on-call 24/7. After all, when your office is your kitchen table or living room, it is challenging to know when it is time to shut everything off.
However, if you do not have rigid boundaries about when work stops, it is easy to keep working until you are exhausted. There will always be students with questions about assignment submission or parents who want to chat about their child’s performance.
Instead of working until you are exhausted, set reasonable boundaries and stick to them. One helpful tip is to have a ritual that you do every day between work and leisure time, like taking a walk or even just changing your clothes. A routine like this helps you shake yourself out of your work mindset.
Save time by grading online
A great way to help reduce remote education stress is to grade papers online, using a great digital assessment platform like Crowdmark.
Crowdmark makes it easy for students to submit assignments online. The educator then has access to those assignments from anywhere and can grade at their leisure, using the handy grading tools we include in the platform.
Cut down on grading work with Crowdmark
Crowdmark endeavours to assist educators with all their teaching and grading needs.
That is why we offer an assessment and grading platform that enables educators to grade paper-based and digital exams and assignments 3× faster than traditional workflows while leaving richer feedback for students. Crowdmark also fully integrates with many LMS.