The start of a new school year is exciting, with a freshly decorated art room and endless learning opportunities. Yet it can be overwhelming to figure out where to pour your energy when you have back-to-school business to check off, lesson plans to enter, supplies to order, and meetings to sit through. All of these responsibilities can leave you with limited time for planning. Take a moment to sit down, sip your favorite coffee, and plan your best art teacher year yet with an easy morning routine and personal milestone celebrations.
Learn how to make this year the best it can be, with planning advice and quick self-care tips!
Planning Time For You
You spend a lot of time planning for your students, your curriculum, and your school calendar. Get ahead of the school year bustle and pre-schedule “me-time!” Prioritizing yourself allows you to show up ready and full of joy while taking care of your mental and physical wellness. This year, ensure your creative bucket and art teacher energy stay full by allocating time for family, rest, and artmaking.
Why Planning Matters:
- Saves Time and Energy
When you become diligent about your schedule between the art room and home, you protect your personal time and off-contract hours. Likewise, maintaining boundaries between the two allows you to maximize time in the art room. - Better Presence
Teachers who feel rested and excited to come to work are more likely to be present for their students. A stronger presence in the art room creates more opportunities to focus on student impact and creativity rather than worrying about your to-do list. You may even find yourself sitting down with your students to make art together! - Prevents Burnout
Let’s be real, burnout is an ongoing issue in education for all staff members, including the art teachers on campus! However, being intentional about your time, boundaries, and self-care can help manage and prevent burnout to prevent early symptoms of burnout such as irritability, chronic exhaustion, and feeling unmotivated.
Routines That Work
Do you ever feel like you wake up and start rushing around the house? You need to make your coffee, pack your bag, and dress with enough time to slide into your art room before school starts. Repeating a chaotic, unstructured routine can increase your stress levels and disrupt your entire day’s regimen. There is hope yet! Check out ideas that work for other art teachers in the Day in the Life of an Art Teacher series over on YouTube.
Morning Routines: Transition From Home to the Art Room
Name your top three priorities in the morning before it’s time to head into work. Remember, you can always add more later to fit your needs. These steps may include having coffee, packing a lunch, and clearing your mind. Once you figure out your priorities, determine small, actionable steps to help you achieve them.
Enhance your routines at work with these tips:
- Are you struggling to make coffee at home and have no time to run through the drive-thru? Try bringing your favorite coffee pods to use in the teachers’ lounge, or add a coffee pot to your art room.
- Do you run out of time to buy and eat lunch before your 30-minute lunch break is over? Meal prep something that can go in an air fryer and start it before lunch begins. Enjoy nutritious food during your lunch break rather than dodging lunch-rush traffic or spending a lot of money on delivery.
- Are you walking into piles of notes on your desk, art to grade, or old water bottles lying around? Decorate your desk with items that spark joy, and take a moment to clear the space so it’s ready to welcome you the next day.
Afternoon Routines: Transition From the Art Room to Home
Now that you have an easy morning routine, apply the same formula to your afternoon! Remember, don’t fall for the temptation to stay after hours and keep grading, cleaning, or working when it’s time to head home. Protect your “me-time” during off-contract hours by setting boundaries that help you pack up and head out the door on time.
Enhance your routines at the end of the workday with these three steps:
- Set a prompt to notify you when it is time to end the day! Grab your phone and add a weekday alarm to ring at “clock out time.”
- Once that alarm goes off, log off your work computer and shut down all electronics. Grab your personal items and listen to your favorite tunes as you head home.
- Leave all work-related tasks and items in the art room! Everything will still be there in the morning.
Milestones That Keep You Going
You spend so much time pouring into your students that sometimes, you forget about yourself! Prioritize yourself by proactively creating moments of joy and celebration throughout your school year. You’ve come this far in establishing and maintaining your boundaries and routines for a balanced art teacher life. Now is the moment to cultivate happiness and self-care, giving you something to look forward to, a deeper sense of purpose, and a fuller mental and emotional reset.
Take five minutes to brainstorm a list and consider how you like to enjoy life. Is it buying new art supplies, going on a quick trip, taking a stroll through a park, getting a massage, sitting in the sunshine for a few breaths, or taking a new class? Everyone is different, so what sparks joy for one art teacher may lead to greater exhaustion for another.
Schedule at least one celebration each month with the ideas below:
- After 30 days of school, buy yourself a fancy drink at your favorite coffee shop!
- Support a fellow artist or art teacher by purchasing a small piece of art to hang in your art room or home.
- Pack yourself extra special food treats and go for a quick picnic or “walking lunch” outside during your break.
- Spend one whole planning period making art.
- Purchase a more luxurious lotion and hand sanitizer for your desk.
Being the best art teacher you can be means balancing life in and out of the art room. It’s important to manage your time effectively and celebrate each milestone throughout the school year. The key is to create a routine that works for your life and then stick with it. When you can find time to plan routines and discover the joy that fuels all you do, you’ll stay rejuvenated, refreshed, and energized! With the tips above, you’ll ease into the new school year, be ready for each month, and create a lasting impact in your art room.
How do you stay motivated and energized to keep going?
What is one joyful moment you will schedule for yourself this month?
To chat about planning your best art teacher year yet with other art teachers, join us in The Art of Ed Community!
Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.
