While I have been a Media Specialist for 9 years, this past year was my first year in a new district, so naturally I am not tenured.  In addition, I started in this position in January so I still feel very new to my school and to my district.   As a non tenured teachers, I have three observations per year.  Because of my January start date, I had to fit these three observations in a very short amount of time.  I had no idea what to expect and my confidence tends to vary depending on what’s going on in my life and my mindset.  As I knew an observation was coming near, and I was feeling less than confident.  The thing is I KNOW that if I tell myself that I suck, then I am going to suck.  So I needed some affirmations to keep me positive, confident and upbeat specifically about my teaching.  I wanted to incorporate these into my morning ritual so I could mentally prepare for my observations.

Affirmations are powerful statements that help you to control your conscious thoughts.  They can be short measurable goals, such as “I will score a 3.5 or higher on my observation by being well planned, prepared and confident in my teaching.”  Or they can be a statement about who you are or how you will think or act, such as “I am an excellent and hard working teacher.” 

Affirmations should evoke strong emotions inside of you.  They should be written down so that can you read them, but it is also beneficial to say them out loud.  Even if you don’t believe them at first, the more that you repeat them to yourself, the truer they will become for you.  Here are my ten Daily teaching affirmations.  Feel free to use mine, or follow the steps below to create your own.

1. I am an excellent teacher.  I work hard and am always well planned.

2. I am great at communicating with my students.

3. I will earn a 3.5 or higher on my evaluation next year.  I will use any feedback from previous observations to improve my teaching skills.

4.  I work hard and have the ability to perform at high levels.

5.  My purpose is to add value to the lives of my students and colleagues.

6.  In my job,  I have the ability to make a great impact on the lives of others. I will use this impact to teach not only academics, but also compassion, kindness and confidence in my students.

7.  I will do some type of professional development at least once a week (webinar, read an article or a book, reach out to colleagues and share ideas).  I know that consistently doing professional development is a way to keep improving and moving forward.  It’s important for me to keep up to date with new and developing teaching strategies and best practices that will benefit my students

8.  I will start each day on a positive note with my students.  Each day will be a new day with a clean slate for everyone.

9.  I am great at classroom management.  The students and I have mutual respect for one another which creates a well managed classroom.

10.  I cannot always do it all.  I will not be too hard on myself if lessons don’t go as planned or if I do not have time to cover all of the material.  What is most important is that I show up EVERYDAY for students.  Everything else will fall into place.

I usually say these affirmations on the way to work each day.  It just becomes a constant reminder (especially for days that are long and hard) of why I became a teacher and what my goals are each day in the classroom.    I encourage you to use my affirmations or create your own and see how it changes your mindset and outlook on a day to day basis!

Here are some great tips from author Jack Canfield about how to create daily affirmations.