• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts

The Educators Room logo

  • Start Here
    • Impact Statements: Teacher Expertise
    • Newsletter
  • Browse Topics
    • Content Strategies
      • Literacy
      • Mathematics
      • Social Studies
      • Educational Technology
      • ELL & ESOL
      • Fine Arts
      • Special Education
      • Popular Topics
        • Teacher Self-Care
        • Instructional Coach Files
        • Common Core
        • The Traveling Teacher
        • The Unemployed Teacher
        • The New Teacher Chronicles
        • Book Review
        • Grade Levels
          • Elementary (K-5)
          • Middle (6-8)
          • Adult
          • New Teacher Bootcamp
          • Hot Button Topics
            • Menu Item
              • Principals' Corner
              • Charter Schools
              • Confessions of a Teacher
              • Interviews
              • The State of Education
              • Stellar Educator of the Week
            • Menu
              • How to Fix Education
              • Featured
              • Ask a Teacher
              • Teacher Branding
              • Current Events
  • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout- An 8 Week Course
    • Becoming An Educational Consultant
    • Teacher Branding 101:Teachers are The Experts
    • The Learning Academy
    • Books
    • Shirts
  • Education in Atlanta
  • Teacher Self-Care
  • The Coach's Academy
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts
×

February 1, 2017 Ask a Teacher

Dealing With Personal Tragedy In the Classroom

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Paula Kay Glass

Paula has a Masters degree in education with an emphasis on child development and child behavior. She has been an educator for 22 years. She founded a private elementary school in 2003 and is now working through the Moore Public School District in Moore, Oklahoma as a special education teacher. Paula is also a contributing writer to The Huffington Post and has a children's book published. Paula has three grown children and resides in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. You can contact her at glass foundations@sbcglobal.net or paulaglass@moorepublicschools.com.
  • Staying Within Law: Special Education Teachers and IDEA - September 1, 2020
  • Teaching With Minecraft EDU - April 3, 2019
  • Self-Care Is Priority One for This Teacher - February 13, 2019
  • Preparing Students For Teacher Absences - February 12, 2019
  • Respect in the Classroom: Earned, Not Expected - February 11, 2019
  • Dissing the Family Crazies: A Christmas Story - January 6, 2019
  • Band-Aiding The Mental Health of Our Children - November 23, 2018
  • We Must Love Them - November 5, 2018
  • Take One For the Team: The Need for Self-Care - August 19, 2018
  • The New Teacher Smell - August 19, 2018

I experienced quite a lot of personal tragedy last year. And as a result of my stress, my students experienced them too. I tried so very hard to keep my personal life from affecting my students, but I’m convinced that sometimes no matter what you do, some events just can’t be disposed of at the classroom door.

Since last year was the hardest year I’ve ever had to deal with in my entire life, I’ve been reflecting a bit on it this year, trying to learn from experiences, should I ever go through something like that again. How could I make it easier on my kids? How could I take better care of myself? Did I have a good emergency plan in place?

Looking back on everything I’ve come up with five things that I would do differently:

  1. Eat right. This sounds crazy, but if I don’t eat right I tend to be cranky. Also if I don’t eat right, my body doesn’t function well. No matter how difficult it was to stomach a meal, I should have made an effort to do a better job at it.
  2. Make better substitute plans. I had to be out of the classroom quite a bit, and the last thing on my mind was to make thorough, tidy lesson plans for my sub. I know I should have done a better job with this in order to keep the kids engaged and the sub from having to scrounge up extra work or hunt down games.
  3. Be open with my kids. My poor students were left looking like deer in the headlights. I never told them that I had some stuff I needed to deal with. I just didn’t show up. And when I was in class I was checked out most of the time. My students worry about me just like I worry about them. They didn’t know what to think when their teacher would need to be absent. It took away the consistency of their day and left them very concerned. All I needed to do was explain to them that I had some grown up things to tend to and it would have eased their little minds.
  4. Use my breaks wisely. I felt like I was trying to play catch up during any free time I had. I should have been using these breaks instead for taking care of myself and tending to my needs so I could be reenergized for my kids when they returned to my classroom.
  5. Lean on my team better. I’m not the best team player, and when it comes to being part of a teaching team I tend to be more in competition than collaboration. I’ve been working to be better at this, but I’m definitely a slow learner. I should have leaned on my team more. They were already in survival mode for me, but I know they would have done anything they could have to have made things easier on me and my class. I should have reached out to them more.

I certainly hope I never have to go through even half of what I went through last year, but if I do I will hopefully have a better plan in place. Do you have an emergency plan of action?

 

 

Dealing with Personal Tragedy in the Classroom (2)

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related posts:

Taking the Anxiety Out of Student Placement in Special Education The Importance of Communication For IEP Students and Parents Take One For the Team: The Need for Self-Care Respect in the Classroom: Earned, Not Expected
« An Invitation and a Demand for Equity in Mathematics
Five Strategies for Motivating the Student Who was Retained Last Year »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

The Educator's Room was launched in 2012 to amplify the voice of educators. To date, we have over 45+ writers from around the world and boast over twelve million page views. Through articles, events, and social media we will advocate for honest dialogue with teachers about how to improve public education. This mission is especially important when reporting on education in our community; therefore, we commit our readers to integrity, accuracy, and independence in education reporting. To join our mailing list, click here.

What we do

At The Educator's Room, we focus on amplifying and honoring the voice of educators as experts in education. To date, we have over 40 staff writers/teachers from around the world.

Popular Posts

  • "Let's Make This Happen": Following Student Interests to Interest-Based Mentorships
  • Want to Keep Special Education Teachers? Try Mentorship
  • An Idaho teen who won his school board election has a message for educators
  • Moving Beyond Diversity to Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging: Lessons from a Sunday Sermon

Featured On

Buy Our Books/Courses

How to Leave Your Job in Education

Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Using Your Teacher Expertise to Become an Educational Consultant

Check out our books on teaching and learning!

The Learning Academy

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Services
  • Media Kit
  • FAQ

 

Copyright © 2021 The Educator's Room.