Therapy Thursday

Teaching: It’s All An Illusion

A principal, the students, or a parent walks into your classroom to see a well-put-together lesson. The students are engaged, and the room has a healthy, low rumble as student groups collaborate on their assignments. Hopefully, those watching are thinking about how talented you are as a teacher! Reality: Talent is only a small part of being able to create an effective and thorough lesson that meets ALL the CRITERIA required by your district. It takes dedication and energy; and oftentimes today, dedication beyond what we can carry. It’s all an illusion to make teaching look easy; it is hard work. I remember a time when I was working 80 hours a week. After a long day of work and after-school meetings, we would return home only to face hours of work that we were unable to get completed during our 1-hour planning time. One of which was developing my next lesson. To do this, I had to:

(1) Research the topic in-depth that I was teaching, so I could answer any questions posed during the lesson. (I taught Geography, so things were constantly changing).

(2) Draw up lessons with the objectives, standards, introduction, procedure, and closure, all while figuring out creative ways to engage my students through each step of the process.

(3) Create the supplemental materials along with the mandated rubrics, student checklists, student instructions, and explanations [that would later be adhered to the wall along with students’ work. Again mandated. 🤯

(4) Make sure the work was group collaborative work because we could NEVER have our students in rows; the district mandated that our students were always working in groups.

(5) Make sure technology, emotional learning, and multi-intelligences were included.

The requirements went on and on and more were added year after year, making it impossible for any one teacher to reach excellence status on their reviews. On top of that, the district had our “Critical Friends” rotating from school to school. Their job was to travel to the different schools (we had 183 schools) and “surprise” you with a visit to critique your performance. They walked in with a clipboard, pen in hand. While you were teaching, they were walking along the walls of your room, making sure that the student work was higher-level-thinking assignments and that rubrics, checklists, and descriptions of the assignment were neatly placed amongst the student work, so anyone walking into your room would know what your students were doing and learning. You know… the typical “dog and pony show.” These “critical friends” would interact with students while you were teaching checking the students for understanding of the concepts being taught. Their job was to report on your performance. Still to this day, it boggles my mind that a school district would implement a program like this! It created a great amount of stress on teachers. I will say, it made me a better teacher, but it also rocked my world! I was carrying a high amount of stress and was unhappy because as a perfectionist, I already had high expectations of my performance and I didn’t need the added pressure.

Here is What I Wish for You and Our New Generation of Teachers

Now, years and years… and years down the road (I am not telling you how old I am), if I could tell the younger generation of teachers anything, it would be: Do the best your can. Don’t carry all of that weight around on your shoulders that the district wants you to, and don’t work your life away. Take time out to laugh between all the tears of frustration. I didn’t follow this advice and my body rebelled. Now, I have health issues I live with daily because my immune system couldn’t handle all the emotional weight it was being asked to carry. You and your life—protect it! If I could go back and do those years all over again, I would like to think I would do it differently. Care enough, but care less.

Today, the requirements of a teacher are even higher. In addition, there is competition within to have a themed, organized, classroom to see who has the most creative, aesthetic, organized classroom, which is an added pressure, but boy, the classrooms look great, don’t they?

So, back to my point. People often score you on your success by what they see, but yet have absolutely no idea how many admin hours are spent outside your contract hours preparing for that teaching moment. Don’t depend on what others (admin, principals, parents) see you as. You know your worth; you know how much you care about your student’s education and the work that goes into making a great learning environment. If you do find yourself under tremendous stress for long periods of time, maybe it is time to find another school or district that supports your efforts, your well-being, and your emotional and physical health.

As teachers, we are often overworked and pulled in too many directions. We often put others before ourselves and it is hard to learn to take care of ourselves. Addressing mental health is part of self-care for our minds, bodies, and souls. Remember, if your cup is empty, you can’t fill someone else’s cup. Here are 27 FREE COUNSELING OPTIONS FOR

TEACHERS https://www.weareteachers.com/free-counseling-for-teachers/

Facebook ° Pinterest ° Instagram ° Teachers Pay Teachers ° AmpedUp

#geographyandmathmadeeasy #teachertherapy #therapy #geography #middleschool #highschool

See less