Teachers, we get it. You have been losing sleep for months, trying to stay afloat in the hardest year of your career. To say that you’re burnt out by the school year already is an understatement. You are probably going above and beyond the call of duty, and still feel like you’re failing your students. We won’t make false promises that teaching will get easier any time soon—although the vaccine provides some hope. Until then, we can offer some helpful mindset shifts.
1. Lean on each other.
Teachers need each other this year more than ever. If your school community is already tight-knit, meaning you share resources with each other and provide and seek support, capitalize on that. No one benefits from being completely alone and isolated, and while we know how valuable your prep time is, someone across the hall (or a phone call away) just might have a resource that will change your life. So don’t be afraid to seek them out.
2. Ask for help.
There’s no point in stoicism right now. If you need any kind of help, find it. Let your administrator know that you’re struggling (head’s up: it won’t be a surprise to them). To our previous point, go to colleagues you trust for advice, teaching resources, or a friendly ear. If your mental health is suffering, don’t let that go unaddressed either. There is nothing wrong with asking for help. Isn’t that what we’re always telling our students?
3. Show your human side.
Kids love when we point out our faults. They love when we’re wrong, or make mistakes, or get scared because there’s a huge spider in the room. Don’t pretend nothing is bothering you the second your students walk into the room or pop into your remote classroom. Yes, kids need normalcy and routine, but that doesn’t mean that you need to hide your feelings. They also need to see that you’re human and that you experience the same exact range of emotions that they do. Talk to them about all of the challenges you are facing this year, as long as it doesn’t come across as blame or misdirected anger. You might even receive some unexpected empathy or offers to help.
4. Make self-care your priority.
We’ve heard the whole gamut of harmful tolls this year has taken on teachers. Some of you went from 6 ½ hours of sleep a night to 3 or 4. Many of you tripled your daily caffeine intake, outright eliminated any exercise routine you may have had, or now rely on chocolate to keep you awake if it’s after 11pm. Perhaps some of you can relate to all of the above. These habits are unsustainable. You probably feel that everything you are doing to fill that time is a priority, and that there isn’t any flexibility. But whatever it is that is preventing those 6 ½ hours of sleep from being reached isn’t worth the toll it’s taking on your health. And your students would benefit more from a rested, happy teacher than from a sleep-deprived, over-caffeinated, burnt out shell of one.
5. Don’t reinvent the wheel.
This is not the year to redesign your curriculum. It’s not the year for experimenting with a new worksheet layout or to switch around the order of your units. When possible, this year should be all about drawing from what you know has worked in the past and sticking with it. You have enough on your plate with trying to figure out how to socially distance, teach in-person and remote students, (sometimes at the same time), and how to still reach the students on your roster who have IEPs, when it isn’t physically possible to give them the intimate one-on-one instruction many of them need. Use what you have, even if it’s not perfect. Devote your energy where it’s most needed.
Conclusion
The real reason why teaching has felt extra challenging this year is because teachers generally share one major trait in common: they all have incredibly high standards and expectations for not just their students, but for themselves. Whenever you feel that you’re delivering less-than-perfect instruction, you try to compensate by working harder than your mental, physical, and emotional health can handle. But this isn’t what your students need most. They need a teacher they can rely on to show up ready to work.
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