Hmmm...interesting.
"Ask for Help
"Don't Sweat the Small Stuff
"Don't Play the Teacher at Home
"Take Time for Yourself
"Remember Why You Teach - Look past all of the annoyances and hassles, both big and small, and remember why you became a teacher in the first place. I left a job in Human Resources at a Fortune 500 company to become a teacher. Some days, I do question my sanity."
Look past all the annoyances...big and small? No. That's what we refuse to do anymore....
Why do NONE of the "combat teacher burnout" suggestions include:
- demand more money
- get uppity
- act up
- teach to the contract
- get another job
- enact work stoppages and slowdowns
- live extremely frugally, invest wisely, and ASAP, bail
- make like a professional and get paid for the work you do
- don't work for for free-PLEASE EVERYONE STOP WORKING FOR FREE
To be fair, she vaguely alludes to all of these things:
"Parents, school volunteers, friends, and students can be a valuable time-saving resource in your classroom, but only if you take the time to ask them. With a little planning and time invested up front, you can set up routine times and duties for the people available around you."
Translation - don't do crap for which you are not paid, except--DON'T ASK YOUR FRIENDS!! Are you crazy? Why should your FRIENDS help you disguise the fact the schools are underfunded in supplies, time, personnel, equipment?
Time to practice your new mantra: "HELL, NO."
"Do you stage a Broadway-style dramatic production each year for yourself more than anyone else?"
I don't know where she teaches, but where my colleague Deirdre teaches, if she does NOT stage a "Broadway-style dramatic production"....she's FIRED."
I have been following your blog--and I think that you raise some interesting points. I have only been teaching for three and a half years, but I am already starting to feel burned out. Last year, in fact, (not my first year) was my most challenging year. By contract, we are entitled to one half-hour, duty free, lunch everyday; but I can't even count the number of lunches I gave up due to lunch detentions, make-up quizzes/tests, and kids needing extra help. What was the alternative? Stay after school--and that's supposed to be my "free" time, too. Besides, I want to have a LIFE outside of school. (I was actually told once, by my dept. chair that the higher ups don't expect us to have a life!!)
ReplyDeleteI do try to teach to the contract as much as I can. But, unfortunately, that's not always possible. Refusing to attend faculty meetings, meet with parents, or give extra help to kids would most certainly get me fired. Moreover, if I didn't give up my time to dole out consequences to the unruly kids (calls home, lunch detentions, after school detentions), classroom management would become impossible.
I am lucky, however, in that I only have one prep, so I can get most of my planning/correcting done during the school day. I am also lucky in that I work in one of the states that offers some of the highest teacher pay (although my district supposedly offers some of the lowest pay in my state). My salary is enough for my husband and I to live comfortably on and even save some money without my having to get after-school or summer jobs to make ends meet.
When I chose to become a teacher, I did expect that I would have to deal with the occasional unruly kid; attend pd days and faculty meetings; and communicate with parents. The main reasons why I am starting to feel burned out, and am considering a career switch, are these:
--*daily* disrespect/backtalk from students who speak to us as if we are their peers, not professional adults
--parents who don't know how to parent and who think it's "the teacher's fault" when their child needs to be disciplined
--administrators who talk down to us and treat us as if we are the students
--administrators who kowtow to parents even when their demands are unreasonable and not in the best interest of they child because they are afraid of lawsuits
--pressure from the higher-ups to inflate/pad grades to help the child's "self-esteem"
--administrators who are unsupportive, haven't had much experience in the classroom, and go crazy over the "latest research" in education because they're really out-of-touch with what it's like to be on the front lines everyday
--administrators who give us more responsibilities every year but less time and fewer resources to do them with (one of the higher-ups in my district actually said he expects us to do "more with less" this year!!)
--administrators who want us to teach to the test (thanks to NCLB) and teach skills that aren't even part of our content area/curriculum
--an educational system that's based on the factory model and is about 100 years out-of-date
I have to admit that I love having summers off, but I'm not sure that I can do this for the next 30+ years!! I have a masters degree in education, however, and I'm not sure what else I am qualified to do. I make more money than I ever did before I became a teacher, but I am getting tired of the BS that goes with it!!
Do you have any information on teachers who left the profession? It would be interesting to hear what ex-teachers are doing now and how they made the career move.
Thanks for providing this forum--your posts are food-for-thought and it's good to know that there are like-minded people out there!!