5 Teacher’s Resources Worth of Your Time: Professional and Personal areas.

With the overwhelming amount of resources available online, its quite hard to track your time looking for what you really need when it comes to your professional development and personal needs.

You might end up frustrated with the choices that you have, the quality of resources or even the lack of continuity that you need. In this post, I’m sharing 5 go-to resources that will help your professional development and restore your emotional sanity.

1. Cult Of Pedagogy by Jennifer Gonzalez. 

I value this resource for its dedication to quality and research. Jennifer talks about relevant topics in education and provides“what-you-can-do-tomorrow” ideas from the perspective of a classroom teacher. It’s far from being too theoretical and abstract. It’s to the point, supported by examples and practical steps that any teacher can implement in the classrooms.

Jenifer also creates great-quality resources available on TpT. If you are a reader, you can explore her website www.cultofpedagogy.com and the blog section. If you prefer to listen, she has a podcast with the same name. It’s a treasure! Follow her, you won’t regret.

Example of topics Jeniffer discusses:

•  In praise of Think-Pair-Share
• How your nonverbals impact your teaching
•  How we say students’ names and why it matters
• Five teaching practicesI’m kicking to the curb
• Starting teaching job in the middle of the school year
• Ten ways to sabotage your classroom managemen
• And many more!

2.    Angela Watson’s Truth for Teachers (podcast).

Angela provides a very unique approach of communicating with thousands of educators through her podcast. When you listen to her episodes, you feel the support and understanding from a peer teacher of how tough the teaching profession can be.

Angela’s mission is to elevate the stress and the overwhelm of teachers and direct them to the path of a better life-work balance and liberation from unnecessary or time-consuming routines. She is a fresh voice you need to hear if you are tired of someone continually telling you to be more, to do more, and to dedicate more to your job while totally draining your mental and physical energy.

I love her for her honesty and dedication to teachers and their emotional and physical wellbeing. She is also talking from the perspective of a classroom teacher who knows the reality of the classroom teaching. This is the resource to recommend to your fellow teachers.

Examples of topics Angela discusses:

• How to be unshakeable in your enthusiasm for teaching
• The simplest ways to stop feeling overwhelmed and overscheduled
•  Your classroom does not have to be Pinterest-worthy: stay reflective on the why and avoid comparison
•  How to move out of the day-by-day lesson planning trap and think big picture
• 4 teaching mistakesthat drained my energy (and the solution that changed everything)
• How teachers canconquer anxiety, overwhelm, and the pressure to always do more
• How to create a morningroutine that gets you energized to teach
• And many more!

3.    40-Hour-Work-Week Club by Angela Watson.

I’m a member of this paid club, and I see an enormous value every single day. I’m not an affiliate, so my recommendation comes from my desire to help the overworked teachers.

The 40-hour-work-week club is the 12-month club where Angela gives you valuable resources to tackle some major problems teachers face in their profession. Each month is dedicated to one topic. Each week is dedicated to a different aspect.

Most importantly, the club membership gives access to tons and tons of downloadable resources, templated, printables that are ready to use. You can follow your own pace. If you are stuck, you can always go back to explore the materials.

Besides, there is a club’s Facebook group where you can discuss the issues as they come up during your learning or work. The club is well worth the money spent and provides professional development certificates for the members.

Among the topics you will explore are:

• Grading and assessment
• Parent communication
• Students, not scores
• Work-Life balance
• Technology timesavers
• Maximizing your summer
• The self-running classroo
• And many more!

Explore this brochure that gives a thorough overview of the club.

4.    The Joy of Being podcast by Marina Pearson.

Let’s face it, we cannot always do professional development and learn, learn, learn, how to be better and more efficient. Sometimes you just need to get a piece of mind that nourishes your exhausted soul.

The Joy Of Being is the podcast to listen. Marina talks about the importance of slowing down and appreciating the value that is already in you. You don’t need to be more or better. You already have everything you need to be happy and have a great business and family life. 

Among the topics discussed are:

• How to create game-changing results that matter
• Keeping it simple; ditching busy for wise action
• The true freedom formula: asset creation vs. Income
• Stop shoulding, start living
• How joy can make you wealthy
•  How to simplify your life as a mom in business
• And many more!

5.    The Shameless Mom Academy by Sara Dean.

If you are a working mother, this one is for you! Being a teacheris overwhelming in itself.

Balancing professional and personal responsibilities might seem to be impossible. Mothers often feel guilty for not being the best for their kids or not doing enough, and this guilt can create even more stress.

Sara Dean from Shameless Mom Academy leads a conversation about how to liberate moms from guilt and have a more shameless life.

Among the topic Sara talks about are:

• The 4 pillars of being a shameless mom
• It’s not all rainbows and unicorns (in motherhood)
• Why perfect sucks
•  On meditation: Where  the hell’s my zen
• On being  shameless: know what you stand for
• Surviving postpartumdepression
• 6 ways to mentallyprepare for everything
• And many more!

As teachers, always on the go and in search for things to learn in our profession, we often ignore the importance of educating ourselves about how to be happy, less stressed, and less guilty.

I dedicate as much time and even more to reading books and listening to podcasts that are absolutely NOT related to my profession. Why? Because my profession is not my whole life.

I also need to take care of my physical and spiritual needs, and this is the only way to stay to be a happy person and a great mom and wife.