“I just feel like I am a failure.” I’ve heard this from teachers a lot lately. When they say this, it feels real for them and that’s what makes it so painful. Especially when it’s coming from teachers who are truly doing their best.
What’s happening?
Why do teachers feel this way?
More and more work is getting piled on, new requests that have to be done right now, and mental health needs from students are just a few things that come to mind. All of this with less support, less resources and less time to recover.
It is half way through the school year, here in Washington State, and most schools just moved into the second half of the year.
Some teachers may see this as, “Wow, I can’t believe I only have a half year left. There are so many things I still want to do.”
Some teachers will say, “Ugh, I can’t believe we still have a year left. I’m not going to make it.”
Both answers are honest and both have a place.
The question is, how do we shift more teachers to truly feel the first, excited and energized answer without shaming or forcing positivity?
Research helps validate teachers’ feelings of stress and burnout. According to the research article, On the outcomes of teacher wellbeing: a systematic review of research, by Benjamin Dreer, confirms what educators already know in their gut: chronic stress, emotional demands and burnout are widespread and connected to working conditions. This is not a personal failure (QTIP). The burnout is real, measured and shared.
Teaching is one of the most physically, emotionally and mentally draining jobs. There is no, “I just need to stare at a screen for 5 minutes and do nothing.” There are students in the classroom that need your attention all the time. They need instruction, guidance, de-escalation, and management all the time.
Most teachers went into teaching because they care, they want to help, they want to make a difference but don’t realize until they are in it, just the amount of emotional labor that also comes with the job.
I felt this way in year one of teaching, no one told me I’d have to help all the students with their emotional rollercoaster of feelings, family stress and life events. I didn’t know how to help and I felt helpless and it was exhausting.
What can we do? Only YOU can make the change, not all of it, but you play a part in it.
Are you ready for the midyear makeover?
Think of it as a course correction, not a personal failure.
Answer these questions on a post-it note and revisit it at the beginning of every month, every week, or even every day to help make small shifts. Make changes to it as the time goes on.
We can’t make large jumps from here to there – it’s not going to all of a sudden be fixed. There is no silver bullet solution but we can take small, consistent steps that overtime get us to where we want to be.
Remember, this is a journey where we are adapting and aligning, then adapting and aligning again.
This is part of finding the way through the mess.
Here’s the question to ponder: what would you do differently if you knew, you trusted that you would get to the point where the job was energizing and burnout was a long lost memory?