Personal Growth and Well-Being
Sustainable teaching requires care for the educator as well as the practice. Well-being supports sound judgment, resilience, relationships, and long-term service to students.
The official Element
Element 6G: Teachers cultivate and sustain personal motivation, commitment, energy, and health by balancing continuous professional growth with their own physical and emotional wellness.
What this Element asks of an educator
Sustainable teaching requires care for the educator as well as the practice. Well-being supports sound judgment, resilience, relationships, and long-term service to students.
Read together, these indicators ask educators to make personal growth and well-being visible in planning, teaching, student experience, and follow-through. The aim is not to display every indicator in every lesson, but to understand the full range of the Element and select a focused practice to develop with evidence.
Official Example Indicators—and an SDLA reading
The Commission presents Example Indicators as illustrations rather than a comprehensive or required checklist. Their sequence shows the breadth of this Element and gives teachers, mentors, and coaches a shared language for focused development.
Engage in practices of self-care in order to mitigate…
Official indicator: Engage in practices of self-care in order to mitigate stress, maximize well-being, and meet the demands of their personal life and the teaching profession.
Actively pursue professional learning and growth opportunities to improve…
Official indicator: Actively pursue professional learning and growth opportunities to improve their quality of practice or to build expertise and experiences to take on leadership roles.
Cultivate positive and productive relationships with other school staff…
Official indicator: Cultivate positive and productive relationships with other school staff members to create a climate of safety, trust, and respect that supports efficacy and resilience.
Add to and benefit from the broader knowledge base…
Official indicator: Add to and benefit from the broader knowledge base of the professional community.
Developing the practice
Name a precise growth problem
Turn a broad aspiration into one observable practice, an action, and evidence to revisit.
Learn with other people
Use students, families, colleagues, specialists, mentors, and community partners as sources of knowledge and feedback.
Protect trust and sustainability
Attend to ethics, equity, legal responsibilities, professional boundaries, follow-through, and personal well-being.
Evidence worth noticing
- a focused professional goal connected to student experience
- reflection records showing a decision, action, evidence, and revision
- collaboration artifacts documenting roles, feedback, and follow-through
- an ethical, equity, or workload decision with its reasoning and observed effect
Evidence caution: No single artifact proves accomplished practice. Interpret evidence in context, center student experience and learning, use multiple sources, and avoid collecting identifiable information that is not necessary.
A pinch of data integration and digital learning
Digital systems can organize information, improve access, coordinate work, or shorten a feedback loop. They are valuable only when the educator can explain the human decision they support, the information they require, and how privacy, accessibility, equity, and professional responsibility are protected.
Counselor job description
Recognize a colleague whose role may support student well-being and a sustainable staff support network.
Questions for reflection and coaching
- Where is personal growth and well-being already visible in my practice, and what evidence supports that judgment?
- Which students experience the current approach differently from the way I intend?
- Which official indicator names the most important next area for growth?
- What is one affordable, manageable adjustment I can test, and what will I look for afterward?
- Whose perspective—student, family, colleague, specialist, or community partner—would improve the next decision?
Continuum of Teaching Practice: Element 6G
This Element-specific continuum describes how practice develops from Emerging through Innovating. Compare the teacher-practice descriptions with the related evidence in students’ experience, then identify a current strength and a purposeful next step.
How to understand and use this continuum for professional growth
- Begin at Emerging and read across. Practices described at earlier levels carry forward even when they are not repeated.
- Use evidence gathered over time to identify the description that most closely reflects current practice.
- A teacher may be at different levels in different Elements, regardless of years in the profession.
- Changes in students, content, grade level, school, or responsibilities may appropriately shift practice in either direction.
- Use the continuum for reflection and goal setting, not as a stand-alone observation or evaluation instrument.
Select a level to expand it. Select it again to return to the full comparison.
Teacher practice
The teacher is aware of the need for basic self-care practices.
The teacher participates in professional learning.
The teacher establishes relationships with school staff members.
Teacher practice
The teacher engages in intermittent self-care to manage stress and well-being.
The teacher participates in professional learning aligned with learning goals.
The teacher builds positive relationships with school staff members.
The teacher begins to utilize the knowledge base of the professional community.
Teacher practice
The teacher utilizes self-care practices to manage stress and well-being.
The teacher selects professional learning to enhance teaching practice.
The teacher cultivates staff relationships and actively engages with the professional community.
Teacher practice
The teacher consistently balances self-care with professional demands.
The teacher actively pursues professional learning to continually improve practice and leadership skills.
The teacher models productive staff relationships and contributes to the knowledge base of the professional community.
Teacher practice
The teacher models effective self-care and work-life balance.
The teacher models a growth mindset by pursuing leadership roles and responsibilities.
The teacher collaboratively maintains a positive, resilient staff culture.
The teacher advances the knowledge of the profession through educational leadership.
Source and attribution: Continuum language reproduced from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Continuum of Teaching Practice (2025), aligned with the California Standards for the Teaching Profession (2024). This publication by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing is not copyright. It may be reproduced in the public interest, but proper attribution is requested.