Journaling Supports Our Growth as Educators

As early childcare educators, we want to do our best work and provide great experiences for children and families to grow and learn. Our profession is mentally challenging and rewarding at the same time.

As educators take care of others, how do we take care of ourselves?

One way to nurture our growing self and blossom in our work and life is through reflective practice and journaling.

The dictionary defines reflection as thinking carefully about something. The definition of practice is to do something again and again to become better at it. As educators, if we take time to think about our experiences in the classroom, we can find nuggets of wisdom that support our ongoing work with children and nurture our well-being.

My work with children focuses on school-age care. During most of my work life, I never utilized reflective practice to gain insight into my classroom experiences. As I look back, reflective practice would have been a helpful method to grow as an educator. Reflective practice can open windows into our classroom experience by thinking about our thinking. 

One day, I started a daily journal to see how I could improve my connection to the classroom, children, and families. I used insights from journaling to discover the difference between the actual happenings in the classroom and my perceptions of different experiences.

How does journaling support our work as educators?

Classroom stress can be overwhelming, exert pressure on us, and influence our behavior. Stress is our reaction to outside factors, often not in our control. Educators can change our response to stress by examining our experiences through journaling.

Journaling helps us discover how classroom experiences influence our feelings. Writing about the day from an honest viewpoint helps clear the mind. Through a journaling practice, we can free ourselves from overthinking our experiences. Opening our minds gives us the gift of perspective, which leads to greater focus, creativity, and happiness. Through journaling, we gain insight into a situation and embrace the moment.

I invite you to try daily journaling. It will help you gain more insight into your classroom experiences, embrace the moment, and enjoy the possibilities it offers for your learning community to grow and thrive.