DIY!
First:
Buy a DIY TSG Manual
The DIY TSG Manual includes:
· sample recruiting emails and brochures
· confidentiality explanation and consent form
· concise meeting schedule for TSGs
· lesson plans for every chapter of The Feeling of Teaching
· forms to help facilitators keep track of teacher check-ins
· cheat sheets for framing and guiding discussions
· clear role descriptions and sample scripts
· reflection guides
· ideas for ending TSGs
· suggestions for how to get paid as a facilitator
second:
Gather a group of teachers (3 – 6) who want to support each other in making sense of their emotions and relationships in the classroom.
One of these teachers must commit to being the group facilitator. Better yet, two — or even all — of the teachers commit to taking turns running the group meetings.
third:
Contact me for training support as necessary.
(Digital Download) DIY Teacher Support Group Facilitators Manual
$25.00
Download link will be sent via email immediately following purchase.
“I learned strategies for engaging with students during times of frustration. I am grateful to have such tools. Being in a TSG was a very helpful way to look at our own practice/understand our own motivations/emotions when working with students.”
“I gained greater empathy for the teachers around me, which really created a sense of trust and community. I learned that I was not alone in my problems with a few specific children and was able to brainstorm and work on problems outside of the confines of the professional school community. I was really struck by the energy and caring and compassion of the fellow teachers around me.”
“I was able to reconnect with the idea of working with each student as an individual with unique strengths and outlooks on life, and to adjust my teaching practice. I was able to see more clearly how trying to ‘push a square peg into a round hole’ doesn’t work for anyone. At one point I knew this — only to forget, and now relearn it again.”
“I gained skills that will not only help me as an educator, but as a communicator. I have gained a better sense of how to wield my authority in the classroom (and outside — meeting with students one-on-one) with generosity and openness while still holding to my rules and expectations of students. I gained confidence in my instincts and boundaries. I also learned that I cannot know what a student is thinking or experiencing in my class but I can always ask them and tell them what I am seeing. I thought that the TSG structure was very special.”
“Being a part of this TSG is the best investment I have ever made as a person, mother, wife, friend, daughter, employee, and teacher. I have had some close calls with burnout and considered leaving the profession on several occasions. The opportunity to get support from an empathetic group through the expert guidance of our facilitator once a week has proven to be the healthiest professional development resource in my 22 years of teaching. Make the time. It is invaluable.”