13 Practical Habits to Make Your Teaching Day Better

When I was a new teacher, I relied on two sources for my daily nutrition at school: the vending machine and the P.E. department’s daily chocolate chip cookie fundraiser in the hallway. Of course, I was also 21, so the consequences of eating fruit snacks for breakfast didn’t become painful for a couple of years. The fact that I was often exhausted in those first few years was partly a result of the workload, but my eating habits surely didn’t help.

Things came to a head when I mentioned to my doctor that I got a cold every two weeks like clockwork. After asking a few questions, she pointed out that my diet and other work choices were making me sick and that I needed to make changes, so I worked hard to develop better habits.

Let’s be real: Nothing we do in the wellness sphere is a cure for the challenges that teachers face every day. My goal in describing the healthy habits below is to make life just a little bit more manageable through small shifts. I’m not promising a miracle.

My progress in changing my habits hasn’t always been linear, and my better judgment doesn’t always stop me from being my own worst enemy. Still, the 13 habits below—connected to physical, mental, and professional well-being—have made a difference for me, and I hope they can help you get through the teaching day with more comfort and ease.

Physical Well-Being

1. Nutrition: We need sustenance to get through the day, and arranging that doesn’t have to be time-consuming. One of my colleagues cooks a large batch of a favorite meal each weekend, portions it out, and brings it for lunch all week. Another prepares two alternating meals. We probably all work with big box store devotees who buy prepared foods such as cooked chicken or egg bites and repurpose them into quick meals. I keep a supply of protein bars at work, and I try not to go into a week without meals planned out and the fridge stocked.

I’m always grateful when the week gets hectic and I have healthy meals ready to go—no more vending machine lunch for me.

2. Layers: School buildings have notoriously inefficient heating and cooling systems—one classroom might approach 80 degrees while the room next door is in the low 60s. Short of filing daily complaints, the logical step is to dress in layers. I’ve kept a spare sweater and a blanket in my desk for years, and some of my colleagues have contraband mini-heaters or fans. Layers might not solve your building’s HVAC issues, but they can help a little.

3. Sleep: Sleep benefits both the body and brain, and if we must choose between an extra hour of sleep and getting caught up on work, sleep should generally win. We don’t get better at our jobs when we burn the candle at both ends, so having strategies in place to grade more efficiently benefits us and our students. I typically go to bed with a giant to-do list still unfinished, but if I get at least seven hours of sleep, I always feel ready to tackle even the most dreaded of tasks.

4. Sick days: It can be harder to be absent and create sub plans than to show up, which is why teachers often work while sick. It’s one thing to power through a cold, but Covid or the flu is another matter. Try using athletes’ “neck rule”: Symptoms above the neck like a runny nose or headache may be manageable, but below-the-neck symptoms like a cough, chest congestion, or body aches suggest it’s time to stay home. It should go without saying that nobody should work through a fever, though many well-intentioned teachers have tried.

I always kept a stack of sub plans in a clearly labeled file behind my desk, and I would refresh it once a month. That one practice made it so much easier not to work through the many viruses that circulated.

Mental Well-Being

5. Outdoor time: I know this one can feel out of reach, but I recommend a practice known as touching grass; even a short time outdoors can reframe the day and reset our circadian rhythm. A high school teacher I worked with reserved five minutes each day to walk a loop around the building, even in the cold. He skipped it only on the rainiest days. He often said that brief time reset his day, reminded him there was life outside work, and helped him put difficult moments into perspective, and he inspired me to make this a habit as well.

6. Finding the good: One angry parent email can derail an otherwise good day, but even without a particular incident, it can be hard to stay positive when each day is challenging. That’s why noting the good things is worthwhile. Don’t confuse this with toxic positivity, which involves trying to suppress truly negative experiences. Finding the good is not about brushing anything aside. Instead, taking stock of the day and noticing what went well can reframe our perspective, which is why gratitude journaling has become so popular. My own practice is to jot down three things that went well to center myself at the end of each day.

7. A clean workspace: Piles of papers and general disarray can lead to stress, particularly when we’re feeling overworked. Consider spending just five minutes outside of arrival or dismissal time—that is, when students aren’t around—getting items or papers straightened up. I do this at the end of the day, and walking into a tidy room the next day helps me get started with a little more calm.

8. Teacher friend time: Only teachers truly understand the ins and outs of the job. Getting through the day is easier with a sounding board or sympathetic ear, which is where our teacher friends come in. It can be tempting to hole up in our classroom during breaks or help students with every free minute, but eating with friends at least two days a week makes a big difference in overall wellness. On one of those days, it also helps to avoid shop talk and focus on other things, such as a show everyone watched, an upcoming restaurant opening, or weekend plans. I like to invite some of my work friends on the short daily walks I mentioned earlier; it feels great to talk about anything other than work.

9. The joy of anticipation: Each week, it helps to have something to look forward to, and that does not have to relate to work—it could be tickets to a show, dinner with friends, or a rare “me day.” I take a few minutes at the start of each week to specifically identify when these moments will occur, which helps me tackle my work with more enthusiasm. If we want to be a little more intentional, we can make a point of writing down one thing we’re excited to experience each week. That way, it doesn’t fall off the radar once the demands of our job hit.

Professional Well-Being

10. Work batching: To manage the heavy workload of teaching, it helps to group tasks that come up repeatedly—such as grading, communications, and lesson planning—and handle them all at once, a strategy known as batching. When I was classroom-based, for example, I batched grading essays by devoting 30 minutes a day to them. When the timer went off, I put them aside. Now, I use the same approach for an unwieldy email inbox. The key is to use the allotted time and no more for just one kind of task.

11. Boundaries: Many friends in education, particularly those with children at home, refer to the “second shift” that begins after the workday. They make dinner, help with homework, and then return to work until bedtime. This leaves many of us stuck in a perpetual rut. Clear boundaries are essential. One of my colleagues devotes one hour only to work outside the duty day, while another shuts down his devices entirely. I know people who refuse to download email apps on their phone. My own practice is to silence any phone notifications by 8:00 p.m. and not look at any screens again until after my morning workout. Ultimately, setting and maintaining boundaries lies within our circle of control, so once we define the line, holding it matters.

12. Lean into routine: It is a truth universally acknowledged that teaching is highly unpredictable—it can be difficult to foresee how students will behave or how a lesson will go. For that reason, establishing strong routines is important. It may feel like a lot at first to design structures around how students work, where they sit, or how instruction begins and ends. But once those practices are in place, each day becomes more manageable. I’ve always found it helpful to start lessons with an activator that connects prior learning to new content and to end with a summarizer that helps students demonstrate what they have taken away from the lesson. Using that structure repeatedly makes planning easier.

13. Change the interaction: For the first few years of my career, I only saw students in the context of my English class, but I wanted more varied interactions with them. When possible, it helps to get involved with school activities outside of academics—ideally, activities that align with our own interests—so that we can meet new students or see the ones we already know in a different light. I was the school musical vocal coach for several years, and having the chance to work on something that both students and I were passionate about was a refreshing shift.

Ultimately, none of these habits will erase the demands of teaching, and there is no need to adopt all 13 at once. But small, intentional choices can make a demanding profession more sustainable. The goal is not perfection; it’s to prioritize our well-being so we can move through our days with greater comfort, energy, and ease.