Daily visualization will make you a calmer, more effective teacher.
And it works immediately.
Try it just once before school and you’ll have an easier day of teaching. Here’s how to do it:
1. Close your classroom door.
2. Sit or stand in place.
3. Breathe.
4. Visualize your day.
Visualization is nothing more than seeing yourself performing your job well. Whatever you visualize tends to happen more effortlessly.
It primes your subconscious to take the wheel, which frees you to enjoy your day without the typical strain and stress you’ve grown used to.
I recommend visualizing three areas:
1. Schedule
This is where you’ll watch your day unfold in fast motion. You’ll observe your students happily arrive and then listen, participate, and do their work until they leave for the day.
You’ll also see yourself at peace and in good humor.
Move chronologically through each period, ticking off your responsibilities. This will allow you to be more efficient and purposeful once the day begins. You’ll feel unhurried, as if you’ve been here before. Because you have.
2. Consistency
Here you’ll see yourself following through like a referee. Picture your most challenging class or difficult student and you fulfilling your promise calmly.
Come up with worst-case scenarios and you handling them with aplomb.
Visualizing this area will do wonders for the ease in which you follow your classroom management plan. The feeling is like being on autopilot.
You see the misbehavior and you enforce a consequence. Visualization makes you realize how simple it really is—and within the safety of your own mind.
3. Lessons
You can also run through your lessons chronologically. See yourself giving the introduction and the way you’ll capture attention. Choose a story or funny anecdote that you may use.
Watch as you model and explain the activity or assignment, check for understanding, and answer potential questions.
It’s no different than an athlete who visualizes their competition ahead of time, and just as effective. Whatever you rehearse in your mind’s eye will be easier and more effective when it comes to pass.
A Sure Way to Get Better
The biggest worry about visualization is that you’re adding yet another item to your plate. But here’s the thing: It takes only a couple of minutes at most, especially as it becomes a habit.
I can visualize my day in about 30 seconds and a lesson in half that time. It’s a fast-motion activity that very briefly touches on highlights and key areas.
The beauty of it is that it’s a surefire, practical way to get better at your job.
Again, it works the very first time you use it and without any extra burden. It also gets easier with time as you become a better, clearer, and more efficient visualizer.
See success, and that of your students, before it happens.
And that’s what you’ll get.
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Loved this article!
Thanks for this lesson
As a teacher,It will help me to be a better calmer teacher.
👍
I totally believe in the power of visualization! It has helped me through a myriad of circumstances and made me a more confident, prepared professional, especially as a new teacher over 38 years ago. I can “see” (insert wink) that neglecting this easy, powerful strategy has been underutilized in my seasoned professional years. Thank you for the reminder!
This is so good! Thank you!
Thanks Michael for the reminder of this simple tool. I use this in many things in life. You are spot on. 👍The more you start to train yourself to use this technique in even the most simplest tasks of life the more it makes life easier and calmer.
Take Michaels advice and give it a try. It really helps. 😊🙏🏻😇
I have been a middle school teacher for 9 years. I do this EVERY morning about 40 min before HR and my first class starts. Several conditions foster this process. You get to your site EARLY and get everything ready, once you have your schedule up and your materials organized you can disconnect from the micro-planning and engage a macro view of your day. Sometimes I can see some flaws or problems with my lesson plan (which was created several days before NOT the day of) and can change things around. What will work in one class might not work in another class. To many people I work with show up when the bell rings…I am sure their day is not optimal and they have engaged in a stress war with themselves. I see them running around, complaining, and trying to copy materials all at the last minute. As for me, I’m playing Frisbee with my early students, drinking some righteous tea and playing some lofi chillhop in HR and staying calm, which makes everyone else calm. I’m having a great day. YEET.
Great Response! On occasion,I do practice visualization or I can be one of those “rushed” teachers. But after reading this article, I will stick with becoming more visual and less unprepared while adding my Lo-Fi beats to the mix. Now I know I can make it peacefully to the end of the school year. Thanks!!
Some people can’t get to school early (travel distance, kids).
Totally, understand. My commute is 1 hour in the morning. I get up early, but even if you can’t take a few moments to SEE your lesson before you engage.
I will try it. It sounds easy enough. Thanks Michael 🙂
Thanks! I’m thinking visualization might help with my weight loss efforts – that I can imagine my triggers (anxiety, overwhelm, etc.) or my desire for fun and relaxation in the evenings and see myself making healthier choices than turning to candy and ice cream.
This so good and interesting
Thank you very much🙏
Consider mentioning including other senses so those with strengths outside of “visualization” can access this strategy (amd.experiemce validation of their innate sense strengths)
There are so many ways to conceptualize, enact/embody and experience other felt senses. This would allow us to also to better teach this strategy to our diverse learners.
This is so great. Visualization is such an important tool I use when teaching music, and for other areas of my life. Of course, it should be applied to the teaching day too!
I love this! Many athletes and performing artists use visualization. My son majored in piano performance and I would often see him lying on the sofa, eyes closed, fingers moving in the air. He was practicing. Tennis star Billie Jean King practiced tennis the same way, lying on her bed, eyes closed, visualizing her opponent, and playing the entire match in her mind. I often run through my day the night before and again in my classroom before school.
I agree with all the people above who said to get to school EARLY. I get to my classroom, enjoy my coffee in the peace and quiet, and visualize my day. You also “make your own luck” by being there early and being well prepared for the day.
Thanks, Michael!
Thanks, Michael!
I tend to focus on reflecting after I teach more so than visualizing before my day starts. I think this will be quite a powerful tool. Getting to work early is a great suggestion. Also, someone else mentioned once we’re good at visualizing, we can teach it to our students. They would also benefit from visualizing their own success.