Cultivating Teacher Renewal

Teachers today are more stressed than ever. It is crucial that teachers develop the tools necessary to keep from falling prey to the potentially destructive effects of stress and burnout. Cultivating Teacher Renewal: Guarding Against Stress and Burnout offers the antidote by providing the knowledge, skills and practices that will keep teachers from surrendering to burnout. Cultivating Teacher Renewal is evidence-based presenting an extensive review of the abundant research on stress and burnout specifically applying it to the teaching profession. This book adopts a comprehensive approach spanning the fields of education, the social sciences, and the neurosciences. The array of strategiesoffered will help teachers become stress hardy to stay in a renewal cycle by, building up defenses against burnout, successfully negotiating the emotional terrain of teaching, instilling new ways of thinking and behaving to preserve well-being, and limiting stress exposure by exercising healthier choices. This book will also help you to maintain a work-life balance and develop practices to sustain resilience and optimism.

Barbara Larrivee is an education professor at California State University. She writes about classroom and behavior management, creating learning communities based on respectful dialogue and authentic communication, and building reflective practice.

Introduction
PART 1: Understanding the Many Facets of Teacher Stress and Burnout
Chapter 1: The Consequences of Stress and Burnout
Stress and Its Impact
Factors Contributing to Teacher Stress and Burnout
Teachers Most Likely to Experience Burnout
Chapter 2: Job Characteristics and Their Impact on Burnout and Well-Being
Multiple Models for Understanding Burnout and Well-Being
Research on the Impact of Job Characteristics on Burnout
Research on the Impact of Job Characteristics on Well-Being
Maintaining Work-Life Balance
Chapter 3: The Vital Role of Social Support for Counteracting Burnout
The Importance of Perceived Support from Colleagues and Supervisors
System Support
Creating a Spirit of Mutual Support
A Schoolwide Crisis Intervention Plan for Teachers under Stress
Chapter 4: Teaching is Emotional Labor
Emotional Labor: Managing Emotions at Work
Emotional Labor and Teachers
Challenging the Emotional Rules Teachers Live By
Emotion Regulation and Coping Strategies
Strategies Teachers Use to Regulate Their Emotions
Chapter 5: Why Teacher Emotions Are Important
Emotional Triggers and the Brain
Negative Emotions and Flooding
Addressing Teacher Anger
What Teachers Need to Know about Emotions
PART 2: Becoming Stress Hardy: Guarding Against Burnout
Chapter 6: Approaches to Student and Classroom Behavior Management that Reduce Stress
Classroom Management and Teacher Stress and Burnout
Teacher Burnout and Teacher Renewal Cycles
The Importance of Forging Relationships with Students
Teacher Reflection and Classroom Management
Establishing the Classroom as an Arena for Respectful Dialogue and Authentic Communication
Chapter 7: Modifying Destructive Ways of Thinking
Challenging Irrational Beliefs
Changing Self-Defeating Thoughts
Strategies for Disputing and Replacing Destructive Thought Patterns
Chapter 8: Changing the Way You Communicate with Yourself
Curbing Stress-Producing Self-Talk
Types of Stress-Producing Self-talk and Strategies for Transforming StressConverting Overbearing Judges to Realistic Guides
Chapter 9: Learning to Quiet the Mind
Cultivating Mindfulness
Practicing Mindfulness as a Pathway to Managing Emotions
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
The Power of the Breath
Relaxation Techniques
Stress-Free Life Skills
Chapter 10: How to Thrive and Flourish: Sustaining Resilience, Optimism, and Hope
Building Character Strengths
Promoting Well-Being
Cultivating Optimism and Hope
Epilogue
References