Since Covid hit Kuwait on February 24th, I have increased my workouts and started watching my food carefully. March 1st schools shifted to Virtual learning which meant that I could manage my own schedule and fit my workouts between meetings. During the first week, it was difficult to sit in front of the screen all day in order to attend meetings one after the other as well as making sure both my children were completing their work. It was hard and rough.
Tag: wellness
Staff Wellbeing
I attended the MENA 2020 on Inclusion and Wellbeing in Dubai this past weekend. I got inspired by 3 keynote speakers on the second day. It is rare for someone to be able to grab my attention right away but these 3 powerful women were able to suck me in from the first minute they began to speak. It was a great second day and I benefited so much from it.
Mary Barret really got me thinking about my staff’s wellbeing. During her talk I felt that I wasn’t doing enough. Many ideas started going through my head. I started thinking that I should be doing more but given the size of my elementary staff and being the only AP for grades 1-4, having 600+ students and about 40+ staff members there is only so much that I can do. I try my best to build relationships with each staff member – both homeroom teachers and specialists so that I get to know them as a person and not only as a teacher. One thing I am proud of is that during both recesses (which are 20 minutes long), I go outside not only to check on all my staff but mainly to touch base with them. I call it my 30 seconds check in with them. There are some days I can’t do the full rounds as some might ask a question or tell me a story about their student. I make sure to not rush them to finish or keep walking. The next day I make it a point to go see the teachers I didn’t get a chance to connect with the previous day. There are days which I might not go out but that’s very rare. I make sure our secretaries do not book any meetings during both recesses. If I am in a meeting, I excuse myself to go do my quick 1 round and go right back to the meeting. I feel like that’s my only time in the day to see as many teachers as I can. Another way is when I have my post evaluation meetings and after we are done and before they leave I ask “How are you doing?” and we chit chat for a few minutes. It’s very rare that we get that 1 on 1 without 101 interruptions. Ever since my first year of being a teacher, I swore that the day I become AP I would never neglect nor not know my staff. During my 10 years of teaching, I have had admin who never knew me nor made the effort to get to know me. After 3 years of being AP, I can say with full honesty and pride that my staff knows that I care about them and that I support them and will always be there for them no matter what. During the summer I checked in on ALL of them with a simple message. Simple actions make all the difference.
When we hire a new staff member for the following academic year, I welcome them by email and give them my number to whatsapp me should they have any questions they would like to ask. This helps them to feel welcomed and it gives us a chance to connect and start building our relationship there. It has made a huge difference to many of them. When greeting them at the airport the first thing they say is thank you! Thank you for answering my endless questions and always clarifying things for us. It gives them a sense of security and warmth.
After listening to these powerful presenters I now have a few ideas that I can do along with my 2 counselors to check in on them and their well being. I will tell you all about it once I meet with my team and see how it rolls out.
As admin AP or Principal, how do YOU check in on your staff’s wellbeing? I would love to hear your ways.
Happy teachers = Happy students= Positive atmosphere.