Teachers - The Right Attire At Work

Deliberately Design Your Professional Presence - Accessorize & Professionalize Your Look

Accessories are a fabulous way that you can show your style and your professionalism. Attending to accessories gives others the sense that you will attend to their details, as well. If you can’t remember your jewelry and you didn’t find the belt that goes with your pants and if you didn’t

polish your shoes and you didn’t iron the shirt that looks like it was at the bottom of a damp laundry basket for a week…(well, you get the picture)

.Then I will wonder if you will find my child’s homework, remember to call me back when I leave you messages, sign the form we need to take to the doctor’s office, etc. By paying attention to your accessories, you let others (students, parents, other staff, administrators, the public) know

that you are paying attention to the business of education, as well.

A few simple ideas:

1.       If you wear pants or a skirt with belt loops, wear a belt.

2.      If you are a woman, wear earrings (pretty common for men nowadays,

too, of course).

3.      Consider having matching and/or coordinating earrings, bracelets,

and necklaces (and maybe rings). You don’t want to OVERdo it, but subtly

coordinating your jewelry shows others that you are thinking about what

you’re putting on.

4.      Scarves and/or ties are a simple way to accentuate your wardrobe,

without spending a lot of additional money. You can have the same navy

jacket but it can look different because you’re wearing a noticeably

different tie or scarf.

5.      Shoes are an accessory that nearly everyone notices. Keep your

shoes clean and polished. Pay particular attention to the heels of your

shoes. If they are worn down (or worn off!) then get them repaired or

replaced.

You may not think of yourself (and particular aspects of yourself) as being

accessories, but you and they are! Your hair, nails, teeth, and skin need to

be clean. This part of your professional presence has nothing to do with

whether or not you are good looking, but rather is about tending to

yourself.

·         Do you have sick- or healthy-looking skin?

·         Are your nails and hair clean or do you look bedraggled?

·         Are you getting enough rest or do you look beaten down to a nub?

·         Are your teeth clean and flossed - or do they appear to be wearing

              little sweaters? Eeeuw.

Sadly, no one else can make the changes necessary for you to be clean, be rested, be healthy, be vibrant - except you.

Especially when you are a beginning teacher and are working what seems to be(and is) 70 - 80 hours a week, you must be particularly vigilant to get the rest, proper food and drink, and health care you need. And, please, take a wonderful shower or bath everyday. You look better and feel better. (Note: I know that some of you who are reading this are thinking, ‘Why does she have

to tell people to take a bath?’ Well, when you’ve spent as much time in schools as I have, sad to say, there are a few folks who haven’t gotten the message, so I figure it’s worth mentioning).

Look around you - both at school, at the store, at community events, and at social functions. Notice the people who appear to be the most ‘pulled together’ and see if part of what gives you that sense is their attention to their accessories. You can learn a lot by just seeing others as an observer.

Attend to the accessories you wear and ‘live in’ and notice that your overall professional presence is enhanced. Particularly if you are making a conscious effort to ‘bring it up a notch,’ see if others don’t begin to comment on how much better you look or say, “Are you doing something different.” They won’t be able to say exactly what is different, but they know something is.

And, if this topic intrigues you enough that you’d like more free articles on how to deliberately design your professional presence, just go to:

**Articles for Teachers     <http://www.articlesforteachers.com> http://www.ArticlesforTeachers.com

In addition, if you’d like to access a huge variety of teaching resources (that you can download for free), just visit:

**Owning Words for Literacy      <http://www.owningwordsforliteracy.com>

http://www.OwningWordsforLiteracy.com

Meggin is a former teacher, college of education professor, and now business owner. Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do. Sound interesting? It is!

C 2009 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity’T.