Back to school: JabuMind for teacher wellness

Start off the year with JabuMind!

As we head into a new school year, full of excitement for opportunities to connect with students, create learning experiences, prepare our classrooms, we still must make sure to focus on our own self-care and wellbeing. Especially over the past school year, we have all experienced a lot of emotions, frustrations, worked through challenges, in the work that we do and in our daily lives.

Now is the perfect time to start with JabuMind for Teachers! The JabuMind app can help us be more intentional about taking a break, engaging in mindfulness, and focusing on our own health and wellness. It is important that we start now, as we navigate a new school year and may experience changes and challenges in our daily lives and the work that we do. Challenges faced can lead to exhaustion, frustration and in some cases, teacher burnout.

As educators, we have many tasks that fill our days and the work we do is never done. We are always learning and trying to do more, which is why educators find that taking a break does not come easy. In my own experience, truly taking a break has been an area that I struggle with and when I started using JabuMind for Teachers last year, I noticed a big difference in how I felt.

With all of the changes in this past year, I wanted to try something different. I have been sharing with many educators about how helpful JabuMind has been for me, especially in making time to take a break. With features, like “start your day” for a few minutes of focus in the morning, “release your day” to transition out of the work day, & “bedtime” to clear your mind before sleep, it helps me to clear my mind and focus on mental and physical wellness. It’s great to listen to while getting outside for a walk too!

JabuMind offers so much for educators. The “Weekly” meditations provide the 10 core lessons of iRest®. One lesson is presented each week; all together they create a wellness series for educators. Each day you can use the Feed page to check in and track your quality of sleep & mood and also see the number of Weekly meditations that you have completed. The library provides guided visualizations on a variety of topics and there are also tips for teachers dealing with stress and anxiety, and even helpful resources for communicating with families. It also includes meditations for students in each age group – so useful for that transition time after recess or passing period!

Taking care of ourselves is important so that we can best care for others. We can also share these ideas with our students depending on their age and model the practice of taking breaks or making time for meditation or mindfulness. Finding ways to take a break from screen time and disconnect, will help us with creating more balance in our days.

The premium version of JabuMind offers access to all previous weeks, which I am thankful for! For a few weeks, I was so busy that I missed a few of the weekly materials but now I can go back and continue working through each week. It also includes meditations and tools focused on teacher-requested topics. There is a limited version of the app with free access and it is definitely worth trying out, especially to help with making time to take a break in our day. When we focus on taking those breaks, it definitely helps us to focus more, avoid teacher burnout, and make sure we are more intentional about our self-care and maintaining balance. This is definitely a great app for teachers! Let me know what a difference it makes for you!

About the Author

Rachelle Dene Poth is an edtech consultant, presenter, attorney, author, and teacher. Rachelle teaches Spanish and STEAM: What’s nExT in Emerging Technology at Riverview High School in Oakmont, PA. Rachelle has a Juris Doctor degree from Duquesne University School of Law and a Master’s in Instructional Technology. She is a Consultant and Speaker, owner of ThriveinEDU LLC Consulting. She is an ISTE Certified Educator and currently serves as the past-president of the ISTE Teacher Education Network and on the Leadership team of the Mobile Learning Network. At ISTE19, she received the Making IT Happen Award and has received several Presidential Gold Awards for volunteer service to education.

Rachelle is the author of six books, ‘In Other Words: Quotes That Push Our Thinking,” “Unconventional Ways to Thrive in EDU” (EduMatch) and “The Future is Now: Looking Back to Move Ahead,” “Chart A New Course: A Guide to Teaching Essential Skills for Tomorrow’s World” and her newest book, “True Story Lessons That One Kid Taught Us.” Her newest book will be available this summer from Routledge, “Your World Language Classroom: Strategies for In-Person and Digital Instruction.”

Rachelle is a blogger for Getting Smart, Defined Learning, District Administration, NEO LMS, and the STEM Informer with Newsweek.

Follow Rachelle on Twitter @Rdene915 and on Instagram @Rdene915. Rachelle has a podcast, ThriveinEDU https://anchor.fm/rdene915. Find these available at bit.ly/Pothbooks