Episode 22: Burnout, Exploitation & the Impossible Job of a Teacher

teacher-burnout

In an educational system that constantly asks teachers to give more than they receive, it’s no wonder that so many are experiencing teacher burnout. Teachers are asked to accomplish so much with limited support and resources. 

But worse of all, they’re conditioned to think all they endure is their fault and to just accept the circumstances they’re given for the benefit of the kids. Unfortunately, all of this leads to teacher burnout and the decision to leave the classroom.

When teachers start to feel this way, it affects themselves, their health, their relationships, and so much more. Teachers got into education to help and serve others, but at what cost do they continue to feel inadequate? 

To help combat these negative thoughts, I share positive mindset shifts to make and ways to move forward from teacher burnout. In order to create change, start by empowering teachers and facilitate an environment that values teacher voice to provoke positive change in education!

 

Topics Discussed:

  • The impossible demands, tasks, and expectations of being a teacher that leads to teacher burnout

  • How the school system plays a part in teachers thinking it’s all their fault

  • Ways to move forward if feeling teacher burnout

  • The mindset that teachers can be the change in the education system

Resources mentioned:

Related episodes and blog posts:

 
 
teacher-burnout
 
 

Read the transcript for this episode:

Today, we're going to be diving into something that teachers know all too well, the impossible natures of our jobs. Oftentimes, teachers come to me feeling like failures, they describe health issues, extreme burnout and exhaustion, relentless stress loads, impossible expectations, and toxic school cultures.

It can be hard for these teachers to use their imaginations to dream and find joy, because they are so immersed in this toxic culture. But often, the teachers who come to me share the following conclusion all of them, that this all must be their fault.

And that's so not true. Hear me when I say this, if you're feeling like a failure, as a teacher, it is not your fault. The whole school system rests on exploitation of teachers. And it's no wonder that dealing with all these relentless expectations, and all the things that we carry, we feel this burnout, and we internalize it. But it's not you.

I haven't been a teacher for over 10 years, but I still find myself thinking about the impossible nature of all that I was asked to do and to hold. No matter how hard I worked, I still felt like I wasn't doing enough. And that feeling, again, causes burnout. If we're feeling over and over again, and we're not enough, we're not enough, we're failing, we're not there for students.

No wonder, we are dealing with such extreme burnout and folks leaving the profession because it is unsustainable. When I first started teaching, I was 24 years old. And I was really excited to have my own classroom. And I found myself in this classroom of 30 amazing first graders, and I was so excited to help.

And I felt extremely unprepared. First grade is this big reading year. And I felt like I was super lost teaching phonics and reading and how do I do this? And it was so overwhelming just the content that I had to teach.

But I also had these students, all of whom were astoundingly and beautifully different. My students were neurodiverse, in many different ways, had a variety of different home languages, and various degrees of proficiency with English. I also had several students who were dealing with intense trauma. And they would come to school exhausted, angry, and in need of so so much.

And just being there for these amazingly different and struggling humans was so hard and draining. To support all of them, I needed time and resources. And I didn't get either of them.

I wasn't given any prep periods or time to collaborate with colleagues, I had 30 minutes every week, when a retired teacher would come in and take half my class to teach a class called psycho motor. It's kind of like PE, and that felt like a vacation just having 15 of my students for half an hour.

And it is not enough, you know, thinking objectively about this situation. It was not set up for success for my students, for me, for my colleagues, it's not an environment where folks could thrive. I felt incredibly alone through this situation as I struggled to support my students. And I felt like I couldn't talk about it too, because I felt like I was a failure.

I really didn't see this whole situation, which was out of my control was set up for failure. It wasn't me. And no matter how hard I worked, I still felt like gosh, maybe I could do more, maybe I could do more.

And I learned a lot through the process. I did get better at teaching, reading at supporting my students, all these different things I learned along the way, but at what cost. By the end of my first year of teaching, I was dealing with chronic stomach pain and extreme stress. I rarely saw my family and friends. And pretty much all of my waking hours were spent thinking about my students.

Again, it's pretty easy to see why so many of us feel burnt out. And it's been almost 10 year No, no, it's been almost 20 years, that's crazy, since my first year of teaching, but I think about it all the time. I think about how I felt like I wasn't enough and couldn't be enough, how I felt like I'd failed all my students. But mostly think about how we ask teachers to do so, so much without adequate support.

And as teachers we likely got into the profession to help people, particularly in a woman dominated profession, we can fall victim to the idea of teachers being martyrs. But sometimes that intention to help can go way too far. We start self sacrificing and self sacrificing so much that we constantly put others needs over our own and it becomes ingrained and almost subconscious like it's just how we are.

But when acting in service of others comes at the expense of ourselves, this is a not a good model. This is not something we should be modeling for kids. We need to show our students, our colleagues and most of all society, that our well being matters too. Keeping on pushing through this toxic situation is not an option. Teachers don't have to be martyrs. In fact, we shouldn't be.

In order to truly heal our school systems and support all students, we need to center teacher well being and teacher voice. We need to trust teachers to be the leaders in education that they are, and to be the ones leading the changes we want to see in education.

So if you're burnout teacher, how do you move forward? First, realize that it's not your fault that you're feeling like this, you've likely been stacked with more and more demands, and less and less support. No one could do this job well, then realize all the things you've learned and done as a teacher.

I mean, that's the flip side of it, right? Having this impossible job, even when we feel like we're failing, we're actually really exceeding, we're learning so many things along the way. So really reflect on your accomplishments and strengths in a profession that continuously puts us down and makes us feel like we're not enough, it can be a revolutionary practice to focus on what you are doing well.

And again, this is something we're conditioned not to do. So if it feels uncomfortable, that's okay, keep doing it. Really reflect on the things that you've learned and your strengths.

Then consider what you really believe about teaching and learning. You are an expert in teaching and learning. So for example, maybe you know that students learn best when they have hands on relevant classroom experiences. But maybe you're being asked to use a curriculum that's really lacking in these experiences and really doesn't align to your beliefs about teaching and learning.

Realize that this is out of alignment with your beliefs, then consider what you can do. Could you modify the curriculum, talk to an admin to get support on making the curriculum more engaging, advocate for policy changes at a district level?

For example, recently, there's been a wave of policies that remove curriculum that centers the truth of American history and elevates diverse voices. And as teachers, we need to speak up and advocate for the classroom experiences that we believe in.

Being a teacher is an impossible job with systems upon system set up to make us feel like we have to choose between our jobs and our well being. When we work with so many other self sacrificing teachers who have been part of this dysfunctional system, it can be hard to consider or even see any other way. But it's imperative that we reimagine what it means to be a teacher.

Teachers should be models of living your life according to your values and your passions. Teachers should be respected, supported and seen as the education experts that we are. So as I said, I've been out of the classroom for over a decade now, but it honestly seems like classroom conditions keep getting harder. Teachers are struggling students are struggling schools are struggling.

So how do we change this? I think it starts with empowering teachers, instead of waiting around for someone to finally listen to us, because honestly, we will be waiting forever, we need to create these opportunities. We need to be the one speaking up for what we need, creating the changes that we know need to happen.

This starts with knowing that you are an education expert, and you are who we need to innovate education. We need society to trust and empower teachers, but it starts with us trusting and empowering ourselves.

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