Posts

PHASE 9

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colours.”
― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

“Where did the holidays go?”, “It feels like I was here yesterday!”, and “I had a lovely summer, but it went so quickly!” are all things you are likely to hear over the coffee at the start of September’s INSET day.

In an article for Tes magazine Alex Waite discusses the ups and downs of the long summer break, acknowledging that the return to school can be challenging due to the contrast of six weeks of relatively unstructured time to the tight inflexible realities of the school calendar, and the opportunity to dwell and overthink that the summer break provides.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom. On the plus side, for many teachers September feels more like the New Year than January, and as well as creating a sense of pressure and ramping up the pace, it offers an opportunity for establishing new positive habits and those all-important work-life boundaries.

In this blog post we have a look at the factors that you may be able to influence going into the new term and offer some questions for reflection to help you kickstart the new year with self-care as a priority.

What’s new this term?

“If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.”
― Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa , The Leopard

Very few of us will return to exactly the same circumstances that we left at the end of the summer term. New colleagues, a new building or classroom, new curriculum, and almost certainly new students! It’s important not to let this overwhelm you. One way to do this, is to stop trying to control things that you have no power over. Change happens – it’s inevitable – and, most often it’s positive.

You might also be feeling like this is a good time for you to make a change – and the new academic year can offer this  fresh start. The change might be around work-life balance and creating clearer boundaries. However,  don’t put too much pressure on yourself; you’re more likely to keep this change up if you make it small and simple. Our creative and bespoke Diary Toolkit can help you make – and celebrate – the changes you wish to action. It will allow you to think carefully about the changes you want to make and the steps you need to take. Then, when you start making those steps – however big or small – you can celebrate and reflect on your successes!.

Goal setting

“A goal properly set is halfway reached.” ― Zig Ziglar

As education professionals we are all too familiar with target setting, but what about goal setting? This kind of aim is not about a number or even necessarily an achievement; they can be something you want to do, be, and/or feel.

If your goal is tangible, the SMART model is really useful. Divide your overall goal into Small, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time specific chunks and work systematically towards them. Keeping a record of your progress can be motivating and help you stay on track.

Sometimes a more self-coaching approach might be more useful. Try OSCAR for example.

• What OUTCOME are you aiming for?
• What is the reality of your current SITUATION?
• What CHOICES do you have to bring your outcome to fruition?
• What ACTION will you take based on those choices?
• REWIEW your progress and if need be repeat the steps.

REMEMBER: Be kind to yourself. Your goals should reflect something important to you and something you can realistically achieve, even if it takes time. Progress doesn’t happen in a nice straight upwards trajectory; sometimes it slows and sometimes it feels like you’ve slipped back. That’s OK. Take time to set your goals and keep working at them for as long as they are useful. Again, this is where diary-keeping – and especially our Diary Toolkit – can help you. It offers you a place to visibly see your goals and start working towards them, but in a way that works for you personally and professionally.

Dealing with back-to-school dread

Get organized:

Although this might like sound like the kind of advice you’d give to a student who’s about to go back to school, getting orgnaised can help us gain a feeling of control over a situation that is making us feel anxious. Simple steps like working out what you’ll wear for the week, packing your bag, stocking up on stationary, a new lunchbox, meal planning (and/or prep if you are REALY organized!), as well as filling in your teacher planner or diary can all help you get into the frame of mind for work and ease nerves.

Get happy:

The NHS gives 6 mood boosting tips to increase happiness:

Manage your stress levels: This may sound easier said than done but things like exercise, diary-keeping, organisiation and time management can help.

Enjoy yourself: What do you enjoy doing? Running, baking, chatting, paddleboarding, Netflix, origami?? – make time for things and the people that are important to you. Have some fun – it’s not a waste of time, it’s self-care.

Boost your self-esteem: You’re rather fabulous, you know! Talk to yourself the way you’d talk to your best friend or your child if you have one – with love, respect and kindness – you deserve nothing less. For example, by way of diary-keeping you could write a letter to yourself from your ‘best friend’ with the words/advice you wish to hear.

Adopt a healthy lifestyle: We’ve heard it all before, but healthy food – lots of veg and fresh produce, less caffeine and alcohol, exercise, prioritising sleep… This advice gets repeated all the time, because it’s GOOD advice!

Talk and share: Take time to connect with close friends and family, tell them how you feel and share your worries. Enjoy the ‘casual links’ we missed so much during lockdowns – those corridor conversations and chats with your neighbours. Seek out help in the form of counseling or talking therapes if you feel your mental health needs some professional input. You could also make an audio diary entry – sometimes it helps to say things out-loud.

Build resilience: Resilience helps us deal with life’s ups and downs – and to make sense of the our negative experiences. This article from verywell mind offers practical tips on building the resilience we need. Diary-keeping also helps us process our experiences through reducing cognitive overload and gaining perspective.

Wellbeing questions and prompts for reflection.

To help you prepare, have a go at answering these questions- return to them as the year rolls on…

What were the best and least enjoyable things about the last academic year?

Is there anything you can do about the less enjoyable things? What and how?

What can you do to replicate the ‘bests’?

What have you done this summer that you are keen to continue that you might ‘sacrifice’ if you are short of time?

How will you make time for these things?

What is your workspace like? Is there anything you can do to make it a better place to work – (buy a plant, ask HR for a footrest…)

Is there one healthy habit you’d like to adopt this term? How can you integrate it into your daily life so that it’s manageable and sustainable?

Who are your ‘entourage’ – the people who cheer you on?

A message for yourself in late November when the evenings are dark, and energy levels are low… Perhaps you could write it now – either as a physical letter or as an email scheduled to be sent in November.

Follow these links for a selection of back-to-school tips:

Teachers’ Guide – Back To School Tips for Teachers | Hays

35 AMAZING Back to School Tips by Teachers in the Know | Teach Starter

Back to school resources 2023 | Tes

7 Back to School Tips for Teachers (thoughtco.com)

Teacher Tips – BBC Teach

Back to school with… – BBC Teach

We’ve made it to the summer break (almost…) and when you have time to take a breath in between activities week, report writing, SATs fallout and feeling exhausted, this is a great time to reflect on the year that has just gone and spend time planning some summer self-care to set you up for September.

Key themes that the Diary Project has highlighted so far are the spaces diary-keeping provides for catharsis, celebration, and perspective. These three things can help us wind down and ‘decompress’ after a long and busy final term.

Catharisis: This process of releasing strong emotions can be challenging and may raise issues or emotions that need to be addressed. In this way it can be the first step before reaching out for support or having that conversation with our line-manager about something that is making life particularly stressful. In externalising our thoughts, we begin to free up space for other things and space to tackle the things that cause us stress.

Celebration: You may have gone to a prom or leavers party for your students and congratulated them on their successes this year – you might even have had a staff party where departing teachers are given gifts and have the chance to make a speech, but have you taken the chance to celebrate your own achievements, no matter how big or small they may be? What have you been proud of this academic year and how did that make you feel? Making a diary entry that represents this kind of emotion – creatively, visually or through writing – can have a positive impact on our mood and motivate us to keep going.

Perspective: In her book, Lucy describes a diary as offering a route to gaining perspective – “It’s a portal where (you) can zoom out and gain clarity and reconnect with (your) personal and professional purposes” Kelly 2023. Being able to reconnect with our ‘why’ can have a very positive impact on wellbeing; it can act as an anchor, or compass in times of stormy educational seas.

The RtD team take the process of this reflection very seriously – especially the chance to plan for some summer recouperation! Below we share our reflections on this academic year and get excited about our plans for the summer.

Our RtD Principal Investigator Lucy reflects at the end of a busy academic year:  “I can’t believe we’re here! Where has the time gone?! It’s been a very full year but I’m feeling grateful for the amazing opportunities I’ve had, particularly publishing my book and expanding the Reimagining the Diary project and team. I think it’s a reminder to enjoy the journey as well as the outcome, and to take stock and celebrate.”

How is she planning to relax over the summer? “I have some ring-fenced holiday time with my family. We’re lucky to be going to Cyprus so that will definitely be a time to disconnect from work. I also want to enjoy time at home – e.g. playing with my sons and slowing down, reading, sewing, catching up with friends and family.”

Her reflections on self-care for the next academic year: “This is an area I need to get better at – I’m definitely a work in progress. I can fall into the trap of toxic productivity and feeling I need to be busy all of the time. I want to reinsert some boundaries around life/work, particularly work-free evenings and weekends. I want to continue running three times a week, as well as reading, sewing, attending my pottery class and having quality time with my husband, sons and family. I need to keep reminding myself that I’m a human, not a machine, and that I deserve rest.”

Kimberley our Commercial Lead reflects: “I am glad I have opened up to more people at work about my menopause, this has allowed for me to put boundaries in to protect myself and other people understand my needs better. I have learnt to stop and remember what other people are dealing with and take that into consideration and not leap to negative judgements.”

How is she planning to relax over the summer?  “I am looking forward to lots of lazy mornings and hoping our neighbour’s cockerel doesn’t wake me up too often at 5am! We are off on a grand adventure to France with my brother and his family so I plan to eat lots of cheese and drink lots of red wine whilst reading books in the sunshine! I must get on to organising meeting up with friends that I haven’t been able to see in term time!”

Her reflections on self-care for the next academic year: “Continuing to prep a healthy lunch to take with me, I’ve been really good at this lately and it is definitely helping. I would like to be better at delegating!

RtD Research Assistant Pen reflects on the past year: “It’s been a fantastic year but I’m exhausted! I’m  looking forward to building on what I’ve done this year in my own research and on the other projects I’ve been lucky to work on – but I need to be careful of saying ‘yes’ to every opportunity!”

How is she planning to relax over the summer? “I’m looking forward to spending some time with my family – hopefully a lot of that will be outdoors and in the forest!  I’ll also be gardening in my tiny garden, listening to music, singing along loudly and catching up on some reading!”

Her reflections on self-care for the next academic year: “Sleep, sleep, sleep! I’m going to try and create a good evening routine over the summer that I can stick to in September and beyond…”

Our RA Jen reflects on this academic year: “This academic year, despite its challenges, has offered me the opportunity to expand my understanding, develop critical thinking skills, and deepen my passion for learning and work on my PhD research.”

How is she planning to relax over the summer?  “I’m particularly excited about embarking on a hiking trip to reconnect with nature and enjoy the tranquillity it offers with my friends.”

Her reflections on self-care for the next academic year: “Going into the next academic year, I plan to dedicate time each week to activities that help me unwind and destress – exercising especially!”

RtD Pro tip:

The end of term is a busy place which can leave us feeling frazzled and overwhelmed. We’ve talked about cognitive overload on the blog before and at the end of the academic year we may well be experiencing this. A good way of combating this can be ‘free writing’ where you simply write (or type or audio record if you prefer) whatever comes to mind. This can be past events, hopes, worries, serious, ridiculous – whatever! Noone else has to read it – you don’t even have to keep it. Don’t overthink it; just keep your hand moving and drain your brain!

Everyone at RtD hopes you have a great summer doing as much or as little as you need to destress and recharge. We look forward to working with lots of you on our project in September. In the meantime, if you’d like to share your thoughts or get involved in the project, drop an email to Pen at pw17644@bristol.ac.uk or send us a tweet @diarytoolkit.

If you need support over the summer here are some useful contacts:

Education support:

Helpline 08000 562 561

Education Support, supporting teachers and education staff

Samaritans

Helpline 116 123

Samaritans | Every life lost to suicide is a tragedy | Here to listen

You don’t have to do much reading around ‘reflective practice’ to realise that the term is used in a variety of ways, and that it means it different things to different people. It is often used as a part of professional development and training for educators and health professionals, so there are also many models and formats for reflective practice which can be used in different contexts, purposes and circumstances.

I should like it to resemble some deep old desk… Virginia Woolfe on her ideal diary

In her book Lucy, our Principal Investigator, suggests that although educators are well versed and adept in using reflective practice to reflect on their professional lives, this is not always the case for their emotions and wellbeing. But if it’s a skill educators have that can be used effectively – why not use it to support our emotional selves as well as our professional selves? Those working in education are often time-poor and devote the lion’s share of their time to prioritising others. Keeping a diary reflectively helps put the diary keeper at the centre of the story- reminding them that they are important and deserving of care and attention themselves!

The Diary Toolkit’s approach to reflective practice is one that makes it work for the Diary -Keeper, through a variety of activities, processes and ‘outcomes’, rather than a prescribed format for reflection. This is achieved through the creative and bespoke nature of the Diary Toolkits which we wrote about last month.

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary. ~ Pablo Picasso

In Teaching and Learning through Reflective Practice: A Practical Guide for Positive Action Tony Ghaye says “(r)eflective practice is an exploratory, purposeful, creative pursuit for better knowledge and understanding.”  (Ghaye 2011 p 20) and goes on to say that reflective practice is “a way of being”. The Diary Toolkit can become an artifact of this reflective practice and a “space for you to consider what each part needs to flourish and thrive” (Kelly 2023 p40).  The Diary Toolkit offers written, image based, digital and object-based activities which allows diary-keepers to reflect in a way which they feel will most help them to thrive.

It’s a way of taking stock, almost meditative, trying to make sense of stuff because life is chaotic. ~ Richard E. Grant on keeping a diary

The Diary Toolkit offers a range of ‘transition’ activities that help diary-keepers slow down and move into a reflective mindset- this is often hard to do after a full day of juggling and to-do lists. Reflection can be a form of rest and recouperation. Being able to reflect in this way has given participants in the Reimagining the Diary project “space for your own wellbeing and emotions” and enabled them to realise “how much I give to my career and how little I give to myself” (Phase 7 participant responses).

Before I went to bed, I sat up till 2 a-clock in my chamber, reading… ~ Samuel Pepys

In phases 5 and 6 participants chose to keep their diary entries as part of the final ‘reflect’ stage of the Diary Toolkit – but this isn’t for everyone – nor should you feel diaries have to be there for posterity (remember we’re not all Samuel Pepys!) There’s no pressure to make a perfect diary entry, no pressure to keep it or share it with anyone. Of course, you might want to use your diary in this way! The diary you keep is for you to do with as you wish!  Again, as Lucy says in her book, reflection is “ongoing and active. It’s a lived practice, that develops and evolves alongside the person using it” (Kelly 2023 p 10).

Mirror, mirror on the wall… ~ The wicked stepmother

In this modern-day digital age, aren’t we representing ourselves and reflecting on our experiences all the time? Social media can be seen as a type of reflection, but one which encourages us to show the positives, (which can be good – celebration can help combat negativity bias) but also leads many of us to down play the negatives (which can be bad, not just for us but for other people who may begin to feel alone in the face of the relentlessly brilliant lives of others on Instagram!) – with this mind it’s really important to have a “space to reflect on the not so shiny elements of your day.” (kelly2023 p32).

Sometimes your diary is the perfect listener. ~ Amy Leigh Mercree,

The data from phase 7 of the project suggested that participants spent more time reflecting on their working day than their non-working life; however as one phase 8 participant put it “It was not really about the education just because school is most of my day and creates most of the emotions”. This reminds us of the benefits of Diary-keeping for drawing a line under our working day and promoting a more sustainable work/life balance through downloading our day and reducing cognitive overload. Similarly, reflective practice through the diary can make abstract reflection concrete making them “easier to deal with” (Kelly 2023 p39).

If you’d like to get involved in the Diary Project and develop these ideas and practices for your own wellbeing, please get in touch with us. Email Pen Williams, one of our research assistants, at PW17644@bristol.ac.uk or find us on twitter @diarytoolkit where we share thoughts, information and love to hear your ideas!

🧐 pic.twitter.com/Vmw27QzuB2

— Reimagining the Diary (@diarytoolkit) May 30, 2023

Quick Read…

As educators (and even if you’re not an educator!), you probably don’t need to be told why it’s important to keep on learning. As an
example, a recent TES article talks about what teachers gain from being learners – in this case learning to play the drums! For most professionals, ongoing learning often takes the form of Continuing Professional Development (CPD). In an ideal world this would be a priority for teachers, but in reality, it can be a bit of a luxury due to a time-poor profession and a world of shrinking budgets.

However, when it comes to CPD for our wellbeing…

“…a person too busy to take care of their (mental) health, is like a mechanic too busy to take care of their tools!”

 In other words, short-term wellbeing maintenance pays dividends not only in our professional lives down the line but in our personal lives too.

The Teacher Wellbeing Index showed that team culture played a big part in feelings of wellbeing and teacher retention: 82% of teachers who reported a negative team culture had considered leaving the profession in comparison with 47% of those who reported a positive culture (TWI 2022 p38). So, how does the Diary Project contribute to a sense of community that supports our wellbeing and helps us take care of our most value tools – ourselves?

The Diary Toolkit is used by individuals in their own time, in combination with an ongoing CPD course and access to a wellbeing community, either through Twitter or within school. The online CPD community was run in collaboration with Martyn Reah, the founder of #teacher5aday on Twitter.

Let’s take an in-depth look at how participants in phase 7 of the study felt about the CPD and wellbeing community offered as part of the Reimagining the Diary project.

The vast majority of participants (92.3%) enjoyed the monthly CPD slots, finding them to be both “Very informative and practical” and “inspirational and each brought something different”.

91.7%  of participants responded that the wellbeing community had a positive impact on their wellbeing, personally and professionally. Participants said that it:

 “Gave me a chance to talk to more people at work as we had common ground”

and

“made me feel that wanting to work on yourself is normal and encouraged especially in teaching as I feel I have to be perfect as I am older.”

 

Two thirds of respondents said being part of a wellbeing community made keeping the Diary Toolkit easier. One main reason given was the sense of accountability. Some of the comments include: “It spurred me on because I knew others were doing it too”; participants felt “More likely to keep up with it as I knew others were involved and that made me want to be involved too”.

The majority of participants responded that they would advise other teachers to join this wellbeing CPD programme, using the Diary Toolkit to track their wellbeing journey. They commented on how the programme had benefited them:

“It has been a positive experience for me and I feel I have learnt a lot and that others would benefit too.”

“It really helps you to focus on what is important”.

Some participants suggested that all schools should embrace the CPD programme:

“All schools should be encouraging it. Although well-being will mean different things to different people but whatever brings them joy should be encouraged”.

Echoing the finding of the Teacher Wellbeing Index one participant said: “I think it would be really good to encourage school to give more time to this. For staff partaking in the project to meet up together in groups to share and talk together”.

All participants said they would advise other teachers to use the Diary Toolkit.

…and the benefits of being part of wellbeing cohort have been felt since phase 3 at the beginning of the project, where 90% participants found being part of the Reimagining the Diary project wellbeing community had a positive impact on their wellbeing.

If you’d like to get involved with the next round of the project please contact Pen Williams, one of our research assistants on pw17644@bristol.ac.uk and in the mean time for a quick community hit – have a look at these short films as part of the BBC confessions of a teacher series.

Resources:

TWI teacher-wellbeing-index-2022.pdf (educationsupport.org.uk)

It’s half term for many schools in England and Wales this week; a good time to sit back with a cup of tea and read this short blog post in which we look back at participant feedback throughout the phases and recap how educators who have used the toolkits have experienced the Diary Toolkit’s creative aspect in positive ways.

From the beginning of the Reimagining the Diary (RtD) project, creativity has been central to the Diary Toolkits (DT) and the methods of diary keeping explored by the educators we have worked with. As early as phase 3, 92% of respondents saw the toolkit as creative, with half of comments referring to drawing or doodling, and others reflecting on the writing process itself as a creative experience. For some participants the variety of activities in the Diary Toolkit was itself creative, providing “(d)ifferent ways to outlet thoughts” or “different ways to engage with those feelings and express them meant I felt more creative” which in turn gave this participant “more space to be creative”. This continued into phase 4, where one participant said, “I loved the variety and differences of the different tasks.”

Creativity is intelligence having fun ~ Albert Einstein

In phase 4 the theme of enjoyment came up many times in the comments participants made:

“I enjoy being creative and these gave me a chance to be just that.”

“Things such as the affirmations and doodling were great. Also just being able to write and get it out is creative.”

 “The creative tasks are my favourite and chance to let go.”

“I loved doodling and drawing affirmations”

 “They fully engaged my creative side which I don’t exercise in my work life anywhere near enough, being creative in my work helps to recharge my battery.”

This has continued through to recent phases. For example, in phase 8 creative tasks were especially popular with some participants: one participant suggested “Less written tasks and more creative tasks” in customising and one participant chose activities with “Creative feel. Less formal style”

Creativity involves breaking out of expected patterns in order to look at things in a different way. ~ Edward de Bono

In previous blog posts we’ve talked about the Diary Toolkit as offering perspective, an opportunity to zoom out or to look at things from a different angle.

“I enjoyed the creative activities, there’s no pressure for an outcome and I found the reflection on negative parts of the day that might cause me to mither (moan) were easier to be objective about and move on from.”

Some participants were taken by surprise by the creative element of some of the tasks:

“I really enjoyed the freedom to draw and express myself without words. This surprised me because although I’m a doodler, I really thought I’d need words to release my thoughts and feelings.”

In phase 4 one participant said that “Using different senses and strategies meant it was a more creative process”.

Participants in phase 5 also saw the opportunity for creativity in a variety of activities which might not appear creative on the surface, such as ‘weather tracker’ and ‘positive mindset’ As well as in more obvious creative activities such as ‘free drawing’.

Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye ~Dorothy Parker

Being creative did not distract participants from using the diaries in the most effective way, rather it enabled them to be selective about the activities they used. This creative aspect enabled participants in phase 6 to choose the activities they found most useful. This approach allowed diary keepers to be flexible and responsive to their days in the way they used the diaries; two participants commented that they picked the ones that suited their mood:

“Initially I tried to plan them out for a week at a time, but then realised that some suited my particular mood / day more, so then started to pick at the end of each day”;

“I tended to flick through the book and look for one that matched my mood”.

This choice may help contribute to sense of autonomy; one participant in phase 8 commented that “I was completely in charge of it”.

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. ~ Maya Angelou

In phase 7 all the participants saw the DT as something creative.

“It has lots of options for you to try with creative outlets for people”

“I enjoy painting and drawing but never allocate time to it so this allowed me to do that.”

This illustrates how the Toolkit gave them the opportunity to engage in activities that were meaningful to them and to give themselves permission to engage with creative tasks.

Some of the participants who found the DT creative, found that the creative process had influence on their teaching. For example, there are “Lots of ideas to use as a toolkit” and “It made me realise that maybe my students need this too so I have included more of it in note taking activities.”

Creativity requires the courage to let go of constraints ~ Erich Fromm

The variety of responses from participants about the way they approached task selection and which ones worked best for them, illustrates the importance of the diary as a customisable process; something which is central to the Reimaging the Diary project and forms the basis of the Diary Toolkit.

The creative elements of the Diary Toolkit also have positive outcomes in the form of better communication and creative approaches to critical thinking and problem solving, so we’ll leave you with this final thought…

“Creativity and critical thinking are bound together by their mutual dependence and by their means of development. Creativity without criticality is rudderless and criticality without creativity is stagnant”

~Ellerton & Kelly 2021

Followers and friends of the Reimagining the Diary (RtD) project will know that supporting educator wellbeing and metal health is at the heart of the Diary Toolkit.

This week, starting 15^th May, it is Mental Health Awareness Week – which this year focuses on anxiety.

In support of this, we offer a practical blog post linking RtD findings with advice from mental health charities and organisations. Read on to find out how keeping a diary could help you and/or your colleagues cope with anxiety today.

High levels of anxiety in education staff

The study conducted for The Teacher Wellbeing Index (TWI) 2022, showed that the trend of higher-than-average anxiety in education professionals continues, with 44% of education staff (46% of teachers and 41% of school leaders) experiencing signs of anxiety compared with 37% of the general population as reported by the ONS (see below).

Graphic from The Teacher Wellbeing Index ¹

The TWI cites a variety of reasons for these levels of anxiety which include workplace culture, not feeling supported or trusted, feeling pressured to attend work when unwell and, of course, workload.

Findings from the RtD project suggest that creating a bespoke diary using the toolkit “may help address the feelings of loss of time, anxiety and overburden that characterise the contemporary teaching profession in the UK, with implications for other groups of ‘busy’ professionals too.” ²

Signs and symptoms

In their advice regarding reasonable adjustments for teachers suffering from stress and anxiety, the NEU lists the following well-known symptoms:

• Unexpected attacks of heart-pounding panic;
• Trouble concentrating;
• Irritability;
• Restlessness;
• Stomach upset and dizziness;
• Frequent urination or diarrhoea;
• Shortness of breath;
• Headaches;
• Fatigue;
• Insomnia; and
• Muscle tension.

These symptoms can have a big impact on both personal and professional life and can make creating and maintaining a healthy work-life balance very difficult.

How can diary-keeping help?

So why are diaries useful for alleviating anxiety? There are several reasons why the process of stopping, recording, remembering, and reflecting are good for an anxious mind:

1. Take control

At number three in their list of ways to cope with anxiety the Mental Health Foundation recommend keeping a diary in order to note the causes of your anxiety and take time out to ‘worry’, allowing you to free up some mental space (or cognitive load) and move on with your day. They state that:

“It’s important that we don’t try to ignore our worries. Taking the time to keep a record of what’s happening in your life and how it’s affecting you can help you understand what is triggering your feelings of anxiety. Knowing this can
help you better prepare for and manage situations that may cause anxiety.

Sometimes it helps to give yourself a certain time of day to be your ‘worry time’. It could be half an hour first thing in the morning for to sit with your worries and write them down in your diary. When that’s out of the way, you can move on with the rest of your day. This can help you take control and stop anxiety getting in the way of what you want to do.”

This space to worry can be both a reassuring and “cathartic experience that lowered anxiety” ³; for some the diary process ‘was like talking almost to a friend’ (RtD Focus Group 2019).

2. Know your triggers

Mental health charity Mind also suggest keeping a diary to help with anxiety, they say

“It might help to make a note of what happens when you get anxious or have a panic attack. This could help you spot patterns in what triggers these experiences for you, or notice early signs that they are beginning to happen.”

 

Mind also offer lots of information around the causes and triggers of anxiety which you can read about here. Knowing what causes you to feel anxious can help you develop strategies to deal with anxiety and plan for situations you know will make you feel anxious.

3. Identify solutions

Mind’s point above is further supported by the NHS who suggest that understanding your anxiety can help address it:

“Keeping a diary of what you are doing and how you feel at different times may help you understand why you’re anxious and identify ways to manage or get rid of anxiety.”

Keeping a diary and using a variety of techniques to do so, can help you gain a sense of perspective. It can provide the opportunity to zoom out or to look at things from a different angle, and perhaps find ways of addressing issues you can solve, and recognising the things that you can’t!

4. Celebrate good times

As we said in our post on Lucy’s book, diaries offer a space for celebration and a chance to capture what goes well. This can help overcome negativity bias, which is the tendency to focus on negative feelings and recall negative events and comments more readily than positive ones.

Mind suggest

“You could also make a note of what’s going well. Living with anxiety can mean you think a lot about things that worry you or are hard to do. It’s important to be kind to yourself and notice the good things too.”

 

In this way, education professionals can benefit from using the diary to move between caring for others (caregiving) and caring for themselves (caretaking).

5. Mix it up

Verywell mind advocate a range of journaling techniques. They suggest free writing, planning, thinking differently about problems, using prompts, reflecting on successes and keeping a thought diary.  This varied approach to diary-keeping is reflected by the Diary Toolkit which is designed to be a playful, creative, and multimodal space drawing on a mix of physical and digital resources.

This creative and varied aspect of the Diary Toolkit is experienced positively by those that have been part of the project to date:

“I’m really enjoying using the different activities and trying new ways of thinking about wellbeing.” (Participant in phase 5)

 “It is good as a guide and a prompt” (Participant in phase 7)

Find out more and/or seek help:

Whether anxiety is seriously affecting your life, or you only notice anxious thoughts from time to time, these tips provide strategies for self-care that may help look after your mental health. See below for a list of contacts and information from the organisations drawn on in this post. If you would like to be involved with the Diary Toolkit project in the next phase, please contact Lucy Kelly or Pen Williams; we would love to hear from you!

What can we do to cope with feelings of anxiety? | Mental Health Foundation

Anxiety and panic attacks – Mind

Education Support, supporting teachers and education staff

Anxiety – Every Mind Matters – NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Stress and Anxiety reasonable adjustments | NEU

Journaling for Anxiety Relief (verywellmind.com)

https://www.samaritans.org/ or call 116 123 – 24 hours a day 365 days a year

Notes

1. Teacher wellbeing Index 2022 full report avaliable at https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/media/zoga2r13/teacher-wellbeing-index-2022.pdf
2. and 3. Lucy Kelly, Grace Huxford & Catherine Kelly (2020): ‘In Our Daily Struggles’: Diaries as a Tool for Teacher Well-being, Life Writing, DOI: 10.1080/14484528.2020.1763232

Quick Read…

It’s an exciting time for the Reimagining the diary project; our Principal Investigator Dr Lucy Kelly’s new book is reaching out and sharing ideas and findings from the project and connecting with an even wider range of education practitioners. This is so important in a climate where the 2022 Teacher Wellbeing Index (TWI) observed that “Staff working in education experience higher levels of depression and anxiety than those reported in the general population” (TWI 2022). Clearly education professionals need strategies like the Diary Toolkit to support their mental health and enable them to address issues of work life balance and low levels of wellbeing.

Reviews

Realised just over a month ago on 10th March 2023, Reimagining the Diary: Reflective practice as a positive tool for educator wellbeing has been receiving positive reviews from individuals that can see the transformative potential of diary keeping for wellbeing:

Kelly draws on an extensive body of knowledge about humanity and our connection to the written form to create a unique guide to understanding the process of teaching. Teaching is not a role that we can ever truly perfect, as our variable (children) is such an unpredictable one. Instead, Kelly focuses our attention on developing an awareness of the process of reflection, enabling teachers to look back retrospectively and see their sustained development over time, thus leading to a sense of healthy well-being. A special read for teachers and leaders. — Kat Howard, Director, DRET Teaching School Hub

Lucy explains in an entertaining, accessible and compelling way how such a record can support our reflection, help us to process our experiences and our response to them, and serve as an invaluable ‘safety-valve’ and source of relaxation and ease. Lucy exhorts us to prioritise ourselves and create the space for intentional reflective practice, which she believes is key to helping educational professionals find a manageable and sustainable balance in their lives. She asserts, “I want this book to help you fall in love with diary-keeping – whether that’s for the first time, a second time, or a third time.” It certainly worked for me, and I am confident it will work for others. –Jill Berry, Leadership development consultant, educational commentator and writer

What a beautiful book! Easy to follow, with practical examples to really immerse yourself in the process of diary keeping. Although aimed at educators, I feel this book could benefit anyone in any industry especially at a time when people strive to manage their work life balance and daily pressures within the modern-day world. This book seriously inspired me to reconsider my own reflective practices and prioritise my well-being. I’ll certainly be having a go at diary keeping after reading this! – Amazon Customer

Key Ideas

In an interview with available via Myatt & Co, Lucy takes us through some of the key points in the book and points to how the diary keeping process can play a central role in teacher and education professional wellbeing.

What Diary Keeping Offers

• Catharsis – diaries can help bring abstract thoughts and feelings into concrete words, images and
  reflections. This offers a chance to ‘park’ the day and can help us free up cognitive load
• Celebration – a chance to capture what goes well and help overcome negativity bias, the tendency to focus on the negative and recall negative events and comments more readily than positive ones
• Perspective – opportunity to zoom out or to look at things from a different angle

Diaries are a process not product

In the interview, Lucy considers how specially within the western tradition, diary keeping is often laden with judgement and expectation – a written process which carries conventions and ideas of ‘correctness’. For diaries

for be seen as different from work it is useful to bear in mind playfulness, multimodality and creativity and move away from a formal and rigid structure. The Reimagining the Diary project therefore opens the diary up to versatility and a variety of cultural practices (with examples from Japan and Mali) where diaries take different forms and are kept for different purposes. More on this will follow in a future blog post on creativity and diary keeping.

Wide-ranging Benefits

Lucy also discusses how the diary can be used to test out and rehearse conversations; as well as helping with wellbeing and preparing for things that may make us anxious or that we are dwelling on, this may help with our relationships too. In phase 7 of the RtD project 68.2% of respondent said that keeping the diary had helped with relationships offering feedback such as: “(I’m) Less reactive, more present and I took opportunities to connect and slow down as I realised how important they were and how they made me feel better”; “I was able to use some of the activities at work with the students to help them”; “I became more away of my roles and responsibilities and how to divide my time between work, family, friends and myself”.

Crucially in hectic times, writing a diary can also be a type of ‘rest’ a way of diverting the brain away from the working day and anxieties towards reflection. The transitions section of the Diary Toolkits provides a selection of short activities which enable diary keepers to do just that.

‘The Light of our Life’

The book begins with a quote from Virgina Woolf, which is the perfect place to leave this blog post. Woolf desired her diary to “embrace anything, solemn, slight or beautiful” and “reflect the light of our life” (Woolf in Kelly 2023), as Lucy’s book shows, the diary toolkit can be a central part of this process.

References and further reading

Teacher Wellbeing Index 2022

Reimagining the Diary: Reflective practice as a positive tool for educator wellbeing – Lucy Kelly

John Catt Books March 2023

---

Early Days

Since beginning in 2018, Reimagining the Diary (RtD) has been on quite the journey! It has gathered pace and participants – with over 450 educators taking part in reflective wellbeing activities through the diaries and toolkits developed by the project to date.

Phases 1 and 2 laid the groundwork for the development of toolkits, revealing the power of the diary for teacher wellbeing – allowing them to reconnect to their aspirations and motivations, as well as celebrating positives and stress busting. Through our first trial we found that there’s no such thing as a perfect diary – a bespoke, creative and multimodal approach is needed. That way, it can be customised to the interests and wellbeing needs of the user. The resulting multi-modal, playful, and creative toolkit developed for phase 2 was extended to more than 140 teachers through phases 3 and 4.

Gathering Pace

The impact on wellbeing was clear – during the Covid-19 crisis, 79.5% of participants in phase 3 and 69.2% of participants in phase 4 reported that having access to the Toolkit improved their wellbeing. As one individual said “It literally saved me from having a breakdown. I believe that I would not have managed my feelings and emotions as well had I not had this outlet for feelings and worries”.

The need for a bespoke approach was developed in phase 3 and 4, where participants used a blanket version of the diary toolkit before customising the toolkit according to their preferences. 92.3% of participants in phase 3 and 79.5% in phase 4 appreciated the opportunity to engage in activities that spurred their creativity. One participant mentioned “I added my own creative tasks (playlists) and was inspired to do more activities and build on activities such as drawings and doodles – lovely to see progress of my confidence in my writing over time”.

During these phases, a programme of CPD for wellbeing was also introduced. 86.8% of phase 3 participants and 79.5% of phase 4 participants expressed a desire for this to continue. 94.9% of phase 3 participants and 100% of phase 4 participants said they would recommend the wellbeing CPD programme with the Diary Toolkit to other teachers, with one participant passing the toolkit “to the Director of Well-being at school as something she could do and share as well!” 89% of phase 3 participants and 87.2% of phase 4 participants responded positively to the Transition stage of the Toolkit as it allowed them to focus on themselves and put schoolwork behind them after the day’s work. They enjoyed a variety of Main Activities; with free writing (76.9%), affirmations and positive thinking (61.5%), doodling, and reflective writing (56.4%) ranking as the top three favourites for phase 3 participants, and free writing (61.5%), reflection through writing (61.5%), and positive mindset/affirmation (61.5%) ranked as the top three favourites for phase 4 participants. This non-judgemental process was described as “Great to clear mind of all the clutter. A way to vent and move on”.

Extra Features

In phase 5 the project worked with two schools and saw a mixture of physical and PDF Toolkits used by participants, while all participants in phase 6 received the physical Toolkit. In both phases, the toolkit also included bookmarks, websites, and digital activities. About half of the participants used the bookmarks, which overall generated positive feedback, such as the ease of navigating the activities in the Toolkit. As one participant said, “Ease of use was great and made the activities very user friendly.”

Phase 6 comprised of a male-only group in response to participants in previous phases being predominately women. 78.6% of participants liked the three stage approach, with none responding negatively. Transition activities such as ‘Breathe’ (64.3%) and ‘Play Music’ (71.4%) were particularly popular helping participants become “settled … into the right frame of mind” for the Main Activity and Reflection stage.

All the participants in phase 5 and 81.8% of the participants in phase 6 reported using the Diary Toolkit to reflect on their working day. 90% of phase 6 participants and 100% of phase 5 participants said that being a part of this wellbeing group has improved their personal and professional wellbeing.

Echoing the findings in phases 3 and 4, all participants in phase 5 and 81.8% of participants in phase 6 said they would encourage other teachers to sign up for the wellbeing CPD programme and use the Diary Toolkit to track their progress, with one participant having “set up a wellbeing channel for our trainee teachers off of the back of this project.”

Looking Forward

Reimaging the Diary continues to grow. We are currently trialling a student version of the Diary Toolkit with a whole cohort of Y12 pupils at a school in Gloucester, and big things are coming for the project in September 2023.

Watch this space for updates and information on how to get involved. You can also follow RtD on Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, and LinkedIn and read Lucy’s brand new book :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buy Now on Amazon: Reimagining the Diary: Reflective practice as a positive tool for educator wellbeing

So despite another national lockdown, it’s been a busy start to the year for the ‘Reimagining the Diary’ project. Myself and Martyn from Teacher5aday are now working with 82 teachers across the country, each of whom has received a physical Diary Toolkit (pictured above) to chart their wellbeing journey over the term. It’s been lovely hearing such wonderful feedback on the Toolkits. I think receiving something so beautiful during lockdown had a really positive impact – symbolising connection and a new chapter for everyone – and I’m looking forward to seeing how this phase progresses.

We had our launch event a couple of weeks ago and over 60 teachers attended. Like last time, there’s something so powerful about coming together and being part of a wellbeing community; to know that you’re not alone when it comes to your wellbeing and that people are there to support you through the many ebbs and flows. This is definitely the case for me. I’m really enjoying using my own Diary Toolkit and sharing what I’ve found; there’s a level of accountability but it feels gentle and helpful which, when it comes to habit formation and establishing new routines, is really important. Furthermore, the fact that this is an ongoing course, over a term, means that there is time and space for this new habit to form: it’s not going to happen overnight, and that’s okay. Also, coming together for the CPD events, and hearing from educators prioritising their wellbeing, shows that it can be done: we do not need to burn out or neglect the other aspects of our lives in order to flourish in the classroom. In fact, prioritising your own wellbeing makes you a better educator but, before you can prioritise it, you need to know what wellbeing looks like to you, personally, and this is where the Diary Toolkit comes in.

I’ve enjoyed having a look at some of the data from the previous phase of the project. Again, the feedback has been incredible: 90% of participants found that being part of an ongoing, wellbeing community had a positive impact on their wellbeing; 84% wanted to continue the programme; 95% would advise other educators to join the course; and 97% would encourage educators to use the Diary Toolkit. We need to go through it in more depth and pull out the main themes – watch this space! – but what the data does show is a need for ongoing wellbeing CPD and that we’re taking the right steps to reimagining the diary for twenty-first century educators.

We’re excited to reimagine the diary further, using this data to refine and expand the physical Toolkit, as well as developing the digital side of the project so that users can make their own custom-made Toolkits based on the activities that resonate the most with them. Phase 5 is going to centre on this, where, after Easter, we’ll be working with the Oak Partnership Trust in Somerset. Thirty teachers will have the chance to use the blanket physical Diary Toolkit for 3 weeks, before deciding on the custom-made Toolkit they’d like to use for another 3 weeks. We will gather participants’ views on this bespoke approach to diary-keeping through a detailed survey at the end of the project, as well as mini-wellbeing check-ins throughout. This data will be really important in thinking about how we develop our custom-made approach to diary-keeping so that we can reach a greater number of teachers, as well as how we might develop the digital side of the project even further.

Alongside this phase of the project, Martyn and I will be working with a male-only group after Easter, as well as St Paul’s CE Primary School in Bolton, which will be our first whole-school approach to the ‘Reimagining the Diary’ and Teacher5aday collaboration. Both of these phases are incredibly important. We are aware that not as many men have been involved in the project to date and, therefore, we’re keen to begin to address this gap and consider how the Diary Toolkit and an ongoing approach to wellbeing CPD can support them. The fact that this phase of the project was at capacity within two days of being advertised shows that there is definitely a need for structured, ongoing wellbeing support.

Working with St Paul’s CE Primary School in Bolton is a very exciting opportunity. This is the first school we’re working with and it’s going to be wonderful to see how we can implement our wellbeing CPD programme at a school level. We very much hope that this collaboration will lead to working with other schools and developing the programme to support schools both in the short-term, and the long-term.

If wellbeing is bespoke, then wellbeing CPD must reflect this. So too should the diary: there is not a one-size-fits-all format because there is not a one-size-fits-all human. Therefore, we very much hope that the Diary Toolkit and our wellbeing CPD gives participants a space to get to know their many selves – personal and professional – and to find out their wellbeing needs. If you would like to know more about the project, including a school-based programme working with myself and @MartynReah, then please do get in touch.