Better Days: 180 Creative Practices and Daily Connections for Teachers and Students

Better Days presents 180 inspirational readings and creative activities to help teachers and students stay present and optimistic while integrating healthy habits into their lives.

Classroom teaching has many challenges, and these are compounded when you're also preparing students to navigate the world in a way that is healthy and forward-looking. But what if you could take a few minutes every day to not only help your students develop social-emotional skills, but also take stock, recenter, and reset yourself?

This engaging and accessible book by professor and therapeutic coach Lisa J. Lucas is designed to help educators and children cultivate presence, kindness, curiosity, and calm in the face of daily obstacles. The 180 sets of teacher practices and student connections in Better Days are grouped into 10 themes—for example, Attention and Intention, Mind Management, and Self-Care—so you can easily find a practice that resonates with you when you need it. Each set includes

▪ Teacher- and student-centered exercises for personal growth and reflection.
▪ Hands-on, screen-free ideas for cultivating a warm and inviting environment that encourages students to learn.
▪ Research- and experience-based advice and affirmations for nurturing your "wise inner self."

The school day is packed, and it can be hard to find time to develop students' essential life skills or to pause and reflect on your own personal growth, but the strategies in this book will help everyone in the classroom become their best possible selves—one better day at a time.

Dr. Lisa J. Lucas has more than 35 years of experience in education as a teacher, an instructional coach, an administrator, and a consultant. She is currently a professor at West Chester University of Pennsylvania and a therapeutic coach specializing in stress reduction for professionals. She is the author of Practicing Presence: Simple Self-Care Strategies for Teachers. Her vision is to provide professional development to educators worldwide, challenging mental models and inspiring educators and students to navigate a world full of distractions and lost connections by integrating healthy habits into their lives.