Conclusion

Each chapter is divided into three major sections: Healthy Teachers, Happy Classrooms, and Action Plan. The Healthy Teachers section constitutes the majority of each chapter since the major goal of the book is to assist you in improving your mental and physical health. The Healthy Teachers section is divided into three parts: (1) Principle for Longevity: What Should I Do?, which introduces the principle; (2) What the Brain Research Says: Why Should I Do It?, which provides neuroscientific research to support why that principle is worth pursuing; and (3) Action Steps: How Should I Do It?, which delineates specific activities you can undertake to operationalize the principle. These activities are not meant to be an exhaustive list; rather, they represent some recommendations for getting started. By the time you finish this book, you will have learned more than sixty ways to practice the principles contained in the chapters. The Action Plan sections provide reproducible templates to guide you in planning for each of the twelve principles.

The Happy Classrooms section in each chapter tells you how you can take that same principle for longevity and apply it to the students in your classroom. At the conclusion of each chapter is a reproducible action plan you can use as a tool for incorporating the principle into your daily life. It takes the brain from 18 to 254 days to develop a new habit, so be sure to practice the new action steps often enough so the principles become a way of life for you personally and professionally (Frothingham, 2019).

Conclusion

Julia, like most teachers, is a conscientious professional; however, she realizes that she cannot continue at her current pace if she is to be successful within her professional and personal life and rekindle the passion that she once felt for her chosen career. If she is not to become a statistic, she must focus on taking care of herself. Only then can she be a healthy teacher with a happy classroom.

© 2022 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

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Passion: Passion

A strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something (Passion, n.d.) A strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something (Passion, n.d.)

When Donna Summer (1983) cowrote and sang the song “She Works Hard for the Money” with Michael Omartian, she is telling the story of a hard-working blue-collar woman by the name of Onetta Johnson (Smith, 1998). Summer met Johnson, an exhausted restroom attendant, at a Los Angeles restaurant and decided to write a song about her. Summer even featured a photo of Johnson on the back cover of the album. Like Onetta Johnson, the majority of teachers are working hard, but it is not for the money. They work hard because they are passionate about the difference they can make in the lives of the students they serve. Knowing that the job has a positive impact gives them purpose and the ability to get through the challenging times.