5 Ways To Avoid Teacher Burnout
5 Ways To Avoid Teacher Burnout
As teachers, we’ve been bombarded with the term teacher burnout. With so many teachers fleeing the profession all together, it leaves those of us who are staying with a feeling of overwhelm. The last thing we want to hear an administrator say is “Practice self-care.” Self-care for teachers looks different for each individual. My goal with this blog post is to share what has worked for me.
Self-care for teachers doesn’t mean a cure for teacher burnout.
Almost all of us are underpaid and overworked. Managing overfilled classrooms and lack of resources. Hours of grading. Hours of planning. And don’t even get me started on the time we put in handling helicopter parents.
Some of us deal with difficult coworkers or micromanaging principals who are quick to email you to “meet them after school” because of an unreasonable complaint.
(That happened to me, apparently a Harry Potter book club is a very offensive idea.)
But maybe worst of all, many of us feel that despite all of our effort, our ability to give students the help and attention they need is an impossible dream.
That we started out wanting to be this incredible teacher, and that somewhere along the way we settled for getting by.
To add insult to injury, we’re all too familiar with squeaking by on slim paychecks.
Whether it’s trying to stay on top of a mountain of student loans (I have two Masters degrees myself, so I know what that’s like), or paying down your mortgage, there is never much left at the end of the month.
Some of us deal with it by pinching pennies. Others will take on a second job. Hoping we can hold on until we can cash in our pension a few decades from now!
In the end, all of this constant making-do and hopelessness leads to burnout.
Don’t get me wrong. Many of us love teaching, we just wish we had more control over our earning power and an outlet to remind us why we got into this job in the first place.
Crying in your car before and after work is a definite sign of teacher burnout.
Four years ago, I found myself in a dark situation. I needed to leave my old school and got hired at a different school in the same district. I knew NO ONE where I was going, but I was ecstatic to leave a terrible situation, that I was willing to try anything. I’m also the kind of teacher who thrives on change and my teacher burnout at this point in time, needed change.
Once I was at my new school, I quickly realized that knowing no one - sucked. At the time, I was still taking grad classes and spent my lunch hour working on course work. (Something I’ll talk about a bit later.)
Most everyone at my new school had started the school together and had transferred from the same school so it was very clicky. I found anytime I was around my team or other teachers in a social setting, they made references to things I had no idea about. Which further isolated me and increased the sense of teacher burnout I was feeling. I also had switched from a non-Title building to a Title building with behavior problems that I had never experienced before. To say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement.
I realized I was spiraling into a whole other level of teacher burnout when I started dreading coming to work and crying in my car. You can read my full teacher burnout story here.
Sharing my story hopefully inspires you to take action, whatever that may look like.
Here’s what worked for me:
This is a key step to dealing with the stress of teacher life!
Do One Thing Before School That Makes You Happy
Getting up a little early to do something that makes you happy has been key to overcoming the feeling of dread I’ve felt. This looks different for everyone, but for me, I hop on my Peloton and do a boot camp or lift weights. If I wait to workout after school, I’ll find any excuse in the book and feel extremely tired and emotionally drained. I also notice my mood is better when I work out and I’m a better teacher for my first graders. If working out isn’t your cup of tea, you could try watching an episode of your favorite show on Netflix, drinking a cup of coffee in silence, or working on your teacher business before your kids wake up. When I get up extra early, I love working on my online tutoring business because it gives me immense joy and fills my cup for the day.
Sometimes a change of scenery is what you need.
2. Switch Schools, Grade Levels Or Content Area
This isn’t the end all be all of teacher burnout. I’ve talked about this before and it’s not the right solution for everyone. Clearly, switching schools for me was the right choice, but it also led to another type of teacher burnout. However, sometimes a change of scenery is what we need. When I taught kindergarten at the Title school, I realized I needed to move to first grade. Yes, I was good at kindergarten, but was I happy? No. I was burned out on that grade and once I made the switch to first grade, I was a lot more fulfilled in my job. Change can be hard, but sometimes it’s the best solution.
Leave your school work, at school.
3. Leave School At School
I got into a bad habit of coming home and venting to my husband about school. This was not healthy for me or my marriage. When your spouse isn’t a teacher, it doesn’t mean they can’t be a good ear, but for me, it was healthier to leave the same issues I was having at school. Venting can be cathartic, but if it’s following you like a black cloud, my advice is to leave school at school. I’m not saying you can’t vent, just be mindful of how much you’re doing it and if it’s actually solving your problem or making you dread school even more.
Take a break from school and enjoy your lunch.
4. Have Lunch Everyday With Your Team Or A Friend
My first year at my new school, I isolated myself by telling my team I was introverted and needed to work on grad school homework. A retired teacher friend of mine was visiting me one day toward the end of the year and she said something to me that stuck. “Next year you need to eat lunch with your team.” So, I took her advice because she’s never steered me wrong. The following year, I ate lunch with my two teammates from day one and they’re still two of my best teacher friends even though all three of us are on different grade level teams now. Taking the time to not think about work and just getting to know your coworkers is so important for that feeling of belonging. When we isolate ourselves in teaching, we feel alone and it creates burnout at a rapid pace.
Start a tutoring business - it just might save you!
5. Start A Tutoring Business
In the middle of my teacher burnout story, there was a light. A former student’s mom reached out for me to tutor in reading. Reading was my favorite subject to teach, and with my kindergartners, we had such big behaviors, I wasn’t getting to all my reading groups consistently (which furthered my burnout.) Just one hour a week with this student changed my life. After I turned my tutoring hobby into a real online tutoring business, the feelings of dread, loneliness, and isolation quickly dissolved and I had a renewed sense of purpose. The extra money in my bank account was also nice. I even paid my car off a year early, went to Egypt and Scotland all in the same year!
Tutoring makes the perfect teacher business.
Tutoring is the PERFECT side-hustle that helps you start earning cash while sparking your passion for teaching again.
When else do you get to work with your favorite students, teaching your favorite subjects, and earn what you deserve?!? If you liked this blog post, you’ll love my video all about teacher burnout on YouTube. You can watch that here.
So there you have it! My top 5 ways I helped cure my very own teacher burnout. Remember, if you’re looking a way to use your teaching skills and make money on the side, tutoring just might be the right fit for you. Be sure to check out my FREE 10 step guide all about how to start your online tutoring business.
What has helped your teacher burnout? Tell me in the comments!
Grab your first 10 steps to start your online tutoring business today!