Teacher Burnout

Can you feel it teachers?  October has hit, and the stress levels are definitely on a different level.  The novelty of the school year you the teacher are long gone for most students.  Meetings, curriculum, grades, parent conferences, report cards, etc. are piling up.  It is easy to start feeling like you need to do more, you aren't measuring up to what you need to do, or that it is just too hard.  Right at this time of year, it is common for teachers to start to feel overwhelmed and, well, DONE!  Past done! Burnt!  I offer 3 suggestions to all teachers who are starting to feel the weight of October bearing down on them.

1. Invest time every week in meaningful hobby.  It is easy as a teacher to come home exhausted from a long day of work and just want to lay down and go to sleep.  It is important though to have a release from the worries that you carry with you from the classroom.  Some good hobbies are things like: exercise, reading (non educational reading), golf, video games, music, whatever helps you relax.  For me I set the goal that I will spend time on one of my non educational hobbies at least 3 times a week.  It helps keep me relaxed and alleviates a lot of my worry.

2. Focus on developing a strong home, work balance.  I was recently watching "Freedom Writers" for the first time, and while there were a lot of things I liked about the movie, there was one major problem that I had with the movie.  At one point, the husband of the main character leaves her because she didn't have time to work on her relationship with him because she spent all of her time either working with her students or working part time jobs to raise money for her students.  The movie made the husband out to be a villain since he couldn't handle the lack of balance in her life.  The problem I have with this is it perpetuates this mentality that in order to be a good teacher, you have be willing to devote everything to your profession.  This teacher is held up as the example or model of what a teacher who really cares about his or her students should look like.  You devote your entire life to your profession.  The problem with that is it isn't sustainable nor is it healthy.  It might work for a couple of years, but soon, teachers will reach a point where they are too tired.  Having a quality home, life balance will help keep the stress levels in a manageable range.  Family members often provide the support and understanding that few others can give.  To keep a balanced family life, teachers should, set a time limit on how late they will stay everyday.  Even if the lesson plans aren't quite finished or those tests aren't completely graded, setting a time limit on your work makes sure that you get home in a reasonable time so you can be with your family.  Another suggestion is to devote one night a week to exclusively spend time with your family in the evening.  Setting scheduled times to devote time to family keeps it a priority in an already busy life. 

3.  Structure your day to use your time more efficiently while you are at work.  Time management strategies can alleviate much of the stress that teachers begin to feel starting in October.  As teachers make the most of their time during the work day, stressing over unfinished projects or finishing grading papers at home instead of spending time with friends and family can be avoided as teachers structure their planning and preparation time to maximize the work done with the time they have.  There are various time management tools to help structure what needs done.  My personal favorite is using my Outlook Calendar and keeping a list of projects in Outlook where I can order them by the most important to the least important.  This helps me focus on what are the highest priorities on my to do list and what projects I can wait to do a little later.  Spending time on the most important things, keeps everything running as it should.

By dealing with the stress of school year, it is important for teachers to remember that not only will they live a happier life by achieving a better balance, but they will also be better teachers.  When you have your personal life in order, you are more able to focus on your students while you are on the job instead of feeling that you are inadequate in other areas.  You will also have the continued energy to keep going throughout your career.  It has been said that it takes a lifetime to master the art of teaching.  If we are working so hard and focusing so much on our teaching that we can only do it for 3 years until we are burnt out, teachers will never have the time even begin master teaching or education.  By working harder on keeping a balanced life, we can keep good teachers in teaching and continue to provide high quality instruction to our students.