Take Your Breaks

Teachers work so hard.  It's common for even the most experienced teacher to work 10 or more hours a day every week, that adds up to a lot!  Beginning teachers often have lots of other obligations in addition to the workload like BTSA, continuation classes through their university, and various other professional development requirements put on by their district or the state.  That being the case, many beginning teachers often work 14 hour days or more and then spend the weekend catching up on homework, grading, and lesson planning (and Special Education teachers writing reports and IEPs). 

Teachers working at traditional school calendar schools usually have a Winter Break, Spring Break, and Summer Break.  Yes, that's more time "off" than the typically alotted "two week vacation" many cooporate postions here in the states offer.  But you earn it!  You NEED it!  Don't spend your entire break working!  It's ok to not teach summer school every summer, use that time to relax and rejuvinate and maybe do a LITTLE catching up and preparing for the next school year.  It's not really a whole summer anyway.  It ends up being about two months and during those two months, often you are asked to particpate in some professional development and then you go back to school early and prepare for the upcoming school year, it goes by so fast!

Get Help!

Get some help! Seriously!

Often, the qualities that make someone a great teacher are often the qualities that can lead to their burnout. I would think it would be safe to say that most effective teachers have at least a little bit of "control freak" in them. This level of responsibility and ability to plan and execute well makes good teachers, but it can also make one crazy.

It's hard for control freaks to "let go." However, the most experienced and effective teachers have found the right balance. The teachers at my school who have been there for what seems like forever are some of the best delegators I have ever met.  They have trained their students, aids, and parent volunteers so well that their classroom procedures and routines run seamlessly.  This didn’t just happen overnight, it took much preparation, teaching, re-teaching, practice, modeling, reinforcing, and tweaking to become what it is today but the initial investment is well worth it.  As difficult as it is not just do it yourself, its important in maintaining your sanity and reserving your time and energy for other things. 



Here are some ideas of how to elicit some support:



-Ask for parent, guardian or even older brother or sister volunteers in the beginning of the year and make a schedule of who you can count on and when.  This is also a great way to get parents into the classroom, even in middle and high school.  You can involve parents in a really positive way and develop a relationship with them that could have a lasting benefit on your student (s).




-Delegate a “room mom or dad” to help you organize parent volunteers and support.  They can be a great resource for you when it comes to reaching out to other parents and organizing events, parties, and field trips.  Room moms or dads don’t just have to be for elementary school, you can use them in middle and high school too!  You could have a grade level parent representative or one for each period. 



-Put your kids to work!  I promise you can do with without breaking any child labor laws.  Give them classroom jobs!  You can even develop job applications and “pay” them with classroom money or other rewards.  The benefit is, if you teach them well of course, you don’t have to worry about little tasks like getting the attendance to the office, sharpening pencils, passing out papers, collecting papers, and taking lunch count.  Even the smallest jobs can teach kids great responsibilities, encourage a sense of ownership and belonging in the classroom, and build confidence and self-esteem.  It has even been a proven behavior management strategy for some students and situations.



-Collaborate with other teachers!  Don’t reinvent the wheel.  Share ideas with other teachers.  You can even divvy up the work-load in terms of lesson planning, making copies, ect. With other teachers at your grade level.  For example, if the entire grade level is starting a new Science unit, you could have different teachers take on different responsibilities and have one create the assessments, one develop the task-list for the project, ect.  And then make copies and share with eachother!

Set Boundaries

I can work and work and work and work but I’ve found that at least for myself, the hours I spend working don’t always directly turn into results.  Often, the later I stay at school or the earlier I wake up, the less effective I become.  It takes me back to those college days when I’d pull all-nighters to finish that final paper or study for that one test.  I question if I had just gone to bed at a decent hour (which back then would have probably been 1 or 2 in the morning anyway) would I have earned the same grade?  Most likely.   Just because you put in more hours, at least after a certain point, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will gain certain results. 

In teaching, your job is never done.  It’s just a reality you have to accept.  There is always one more thing you could try, one more hour you could spend, one more lesson to improve, more copies to be made, more emails to be sent, more phone calls and conversations to have, another parent meeting to schedule, one more fundraiser or field trip to organize, the list is unending.  However, we are ONLY HUMAN!  Our energy, patience, and effectiveness does have a limit (even though we are always trying to push that limit;) )

Even though this is only my fifth year teaching, I have already learned some important lessons the hard way.  Here is  some advice based on my own experience thus far:

1)      Pick 1-2 days a week to leave RIGHT after school (or at least within the first half hour of school ending) 

2)      Decide if you prefer to get all of your work done at work and take nothing home or if you prefer to take most work home and do it in your sweats on your comfy couch.  I’ve heard convincing arguments both ways  but you need to find what works best for you and stick to it.  I have some teacher friends who have kids who prefer to take nothing home, no exceptions.  They want to keep their work separate from home as much as possible so they would rather stay late or come in on weekends instead of having their kids watch them work at home.  This also serves as a mental boundary for them.  There are others who would prefer to spend the least amount of hours on campus as possible and would rather stay up late working at home in a more comfortable setting then sit in their classroom at a desk.  At least home provides an alternative setting and a change of scenery.  I understand both sides and I think each individual needs to figure out what works best for them and their family and/or significant other.

3)      Don’t give out your personal cell phone number to parents or students.

4)      Schedule at least 3 days a week for exercise of your choice.  Decide the days and times you will commit to.  Be protective of them!  Get those endorphins flowing and get out any stress and frustration.  Run while listening to your favorite music, hike or walk with friends or pets, go to yoga, do zumba, ride your bike, lift weights, go for a swim,  watch a work-out  video, whatever you enjoy, just make it a priority.

5)      Set some time-limits for working on weekends or into the night.  If you have to work on the weekend decide a set amount of time to work and stick to it.  Give focused effort for that time frame and then stop and put it away.  It is inevitable that I have to work on weekends.  There is always grading to do, lessons to plan, and assessment reports and IEPs to write, there is just no getting around it because there isn’t enough time built into the school week to finish it, at least not while I’m taking classes too.  So…I have to set boundaries.  Every Friday I prioritize and decide what exactly I HAVE to have FINISHED by MONDAY (I can’t look onto the rest of the week because there is always a would, could, or should…) and estimate how many hours it should take me.  For an assessment report for an Initial IEP or a Triennial IEP I usually give myself 5 hours, for grading maybe 2 hours depending on what it is and how much there is, for lesson planning maybe 3 hours depending… and then I try to stick to it.  I will sit down and keep track of the time.  After the time I allotted myself to finish is up, I have to put it away.  Period.  Whatever I don’t finish, I don’t finish.  Too bad.  Its just not worth it to sacrifice the weekend.  I’ve found that giving up the whole weekend has worse consequences in terms of my mental and physical health than not finishing WHATEVER it is I was working on.  After putting in a reasonable effort I have to stop.  That’s it.  If I expect to give 100% throughout the week,  I just can’t dedicate 250% to work every weekend.

Have Lunch in the Lounge

Kids are amazing.  Most people who have become teachers would agree with that statement. 

However, as great as kids are, its important to find time for adult interaction.  Spending time with other adults can remind us of reality, encourage us when we are down, and inspire us with new ideas and perspectives. 

As tempting as it can be to remain in your classroom all day... Don't!  I know the work can pile up and its so easy to just "take a working lunch" and eat your lunch at your computer while grading, prepping for your next lesson, or responding to emails.  It's also easy to end up spending your lunch and recess or nutrition breaks with your students.  You feel like your day is so jam packed you have to take advantage of every opportunity to follow up with that one kid about his behavior, or catch up the student who has been absent, or ask so and so what's been going on in their life because you can sense something is different.  Also, a common habbit new teachers get into is using their lunches and breaks as a type of detention or study hall for their students.  It's important to realize that in the long run, this practice tends to hurt the teacher more than it benefits the student.

Based on my own personal experience (and I'm a very introverted person by the way) eating lunch with other teachers has been an important compenont of maintaining my sanity at school.  No matter how busy things get, I always try to take my lunch in the teacher's lounge.  This practice has been proven to support my overall mental and physical health for several reasons:

1) It forces me to stop working for a moment and enjoy food that will replinish and sustain me

2) I can engage in conversation that has nothing to do with work or school and get a glimpse of reality for a moment

3) I can vent my frustrations and concerns to adults who "get me" instead of taking it out on my students

4) I can collaborate with my colleagues in a casaul way and get advice from insight from others in the field

5) It allows me a moment to take a deep breath and meet my own basic needs so that I can return to the classroom energized and refreshed

Kids say the darndest things...

Throughout my teaching career I have been faced with several moments every single day where I have been forced to choose between laughing or crying...I try to always choose to laugh :)  Sometimes I laugh so hard I cry, but that's okay:)

There have been times when I have had to stop and wonder to myself "Did anyone else see that?", "Did anyone else here that?", "Is this real life?"  There is never a dull moment in the classroom or on the playground and instead of getting flustered and overwhelmed, sometimes it's best to just smile and move on.  I have learned to celebrate every little success, no matter how minor it might seem, and get my students to laugh and smile with me as often as possible.  Humor can make every situation more bearable...for both the teacher and the students :)

Here are some fun links to more teacher humor:

http://www.crazy4teachers.com/

http://teachers.net/mentors/humor/

Education Puns- You feel like you actually taught your kids something if they understand some of these puns :)

Burnout

Everyday is different.  You never know what to expect.  Always exciting!  Full of surprises!  Never a dull moment.  Challenge.

I would use all of those phrases and more to describe a "typcial" day in the classroom.  To be honest, those are the things that make me love my job and those realities keep me in the field of education.  However, those are things that can also make teaching so exhausting.  You could be the most organized person in the world, have a never ending supply of patience, and always have a backup plan number 5 in your toolbox.  However, when working with kids, ecspecially kids with special needs, it is simply impossible to ALWAYS be prepared for every little detail. 

I would say that most teachers probably have high expectations for themselves, and that's what makes them good teachers.  However, its often those impossible expectations that we set for ourselves that make us go crazy and cause unnecessary burnout.

I've realized that in order to give my kids what they need, I have to give myself what I need.  If I don't take care of myself, I can't take care of my students.  When I'm overally tired and stressed, I find myself easily frustrated and low on energy and that's just not fair to my students.

The "valleys" in teaching are inevitable.  As a result, I have found some resources to help cope and some advice that inspries me to trudge on.

Check out these links:

Teacher Burnout

Warning Signs of Teacher Burnout

Someone put an article in my mailbox my first year teaching about the cycles you can expect in your first year.  I remember looking at it and feeling like it was so true!  The feelings, thoughts, and emotions it described were so relatable to me at the time.  I found the website below that describes something similiar:

How to survive your first year of teaching