Therapy Thursday – March 7 – Geography & Math Made Easy

What do you do when you are burnt out?

Teaching is highly demanding of our time, energy, and emotions. If you are like me, following a day of teaching and being “on stage in character” for 7 hours, I simply want to retreat to my home for quiet time (while I grade papers – which requires additional energy from your almost empty reservoir).

I reached burnout early in my career after 11 years of teaching middle school geography, American History, Algebra, etc. I was the only teacher in the building that had more than two preps and after about five years of having all the extra classes added to my schedule, I marched myself to the office and let them know that it was someone else’s turn. I was exhausted physically and emotionally! The hours I spent prepping for classes after working hours was, in simple terms, exhausting. And the toll it took on me was great. This was in the early 2000s, and I was working within a broken system. Years later after I moved to Texas. the school system filed for bankruptcy. If you are curious as to what school system it was, it was the Memphis City School System in Memphis, TN. All 183 schools closed and all those students were transferred into the small county school system which didn’t have the funds, the space, or the means to meet these student’s needs. In the 11 years I taught, we had at least 5 superintendents always changing the guidelines and requirements. Can you imagine the confusion?

To be totally transparent, it wasn’t the students that resulted in my burnout. Spending time with my students and developing the teacher-student relationships I built with them was the best part of teaching and kept me in the classroom for as long as it did.

The truth: the education system led me to feel I was never good enough and I know a lot of teachers feel that way today. But I was good enough and great teacher; I just didn’t realize it while I was trying to keep my head above water with all the demands.

I didn’t reap the rewards until later on in life when my students became adults, and it was only then, I realized what impacts I had on their lives. I came out of college wanting to be THE BEST TEACHER EVER! But with that expectation came a lot of pressure to be perfect on top of administration expecting us to be educational ninjas and for one single individiual to meet all 180 of my student’s needs. I tried; I promise, I tried! However, it is unrealistic for one person to carry all that heavy responsibility and weight. With school administration’s expectations of teachers increasing every year, it pushed my expectations of myself even to extreme, unrealisitc heights — ones I could not meet no matter how much effort and time I sacrificed. The lesson I learned is TRYING TO REACH PERFECTION is impossible, and it will only destroy you and your career in the long run. I hope you can learn from my experiences.

I can hear the resounding grunts on the other end, “Well, it is easier said than done.” It really isn’t!. I suffer from the need to be great at all things, even today, but I have to tame that desire and my internal dialog and realize that, as humans, we do not have the ability to be perfect. If you are trying to reach the goal of perfection, you have set a goal too high. Change that mindset to, “I will do the best of which I am capable.” Change your internal dialog.

My husband didn’t reach burnout until the middle of his career, but he had to hang on for his retirement. He is the prime example of “what do you do when you are so burnt out?” In his case, he moved into a different position that brought some of his passion and excitement back. He had, for 15 years, taught Alegras to middle schoolers. In attempt to offset some of his burnout, he took a position in an elementary school teaching kids with high IQs. That wasn’t much easier, but it gave him a different avenue to use his skills. After a few years of teaching within this realm, he moved into a GT position and now is GT Lead. In his case, he was too invested to start over in his career, so he changed his position. If you are a young teacher already reaching burnout, you may want to try to consider changing careers — not that I am advocating leaving the profession but sometimes that is what is needed. If you cannot, change careers, try to move to a different school with a more supportive administration. I believe if I would have had a more supportive administration over the course of my first seven years of teaching, the outcome of my career would have been different. But by the time they did hire a great supportive administrator, I had already had seven years of struggle with the former administration and had already reached burnout. My husband is at the end of his 27-year journey, and he has one and a half years left of his teaching career before he begins a new journey into another career….because let’s be honest — you can’t fully retire on teacher retirement.

In the meantime….while you are making decisions on how to pull yourself out of burnout, whether to change schools, positions or start a new career, take these steps:

🟢 Try to lower your expectations of yourself.

🟢 Realize you are only human and can only do your best.

🟢 You can only do your job well if you are provided the tools and support to do it well.

🟢 Put more priority on your needs outside of the classroom.

🟢 If it DOESN”T HAVE TO BE DONE, don’t do it. Don’t feel guilty for giving effort grades or not grading something at all. This took me a long time to learn and I didn’t do it often, but when I had piles and piles of work to grade, I had to come to a point that I had to decide which assignments were most important to provide feedback.

🟢 Take one day at a time, one moment at a time.

🟢 On random days you have the option to leave work at school and not take it home, take the opportunity.

🟢 Find a counselor to talk to on a weekly basis to talk through all your frustrations and emotions.

🟢 Remember, their future does not ride solely on you. They will have over 40 other teachers throughout their educational career and you are just one of many.

🟢 Pray about your next step. When you get an answer, feel the fear and do it anyway!

… and BREATH!

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/