Combating Teacher Burn-out
I have been grading essays for the last 5 hours, and I still have one more class to go. After I am finally done grading all of these essays, I will then probably spend at least another hour getting my lesson together for tomorrow. I regularly spend at least a couple hours every evening during the week working on lessons, and about 4-6 hours on the weekend grading or getting lessons together, outside of school hours. Occasionally I get lucky, and I have extra time during my plans, or during my after school content meetings, or during meetings like parent-teacher conferences, where I might have some time to plan or grade. But for the most part, those things are done during my own time. And that's just the basic teacher stuff- that doesn't account for calling home, behavior meetings with students or parents, or my other duties, such as leading my grade level team, planning field trips, or helping mentor new teachers.
I have been doing this for the last 6 years, but none of that is what led to my burn-out this year. I'm tired of being told what I can teach and when, and being sent emails with a task that I'm expected to complete by 3:30 that day, despite the fact that I had only 50 minutes of planning time, which was already scheduled with behavior meetings for my students. I'm tired of being told that I can't create my own exams for my students, because "you're not trained to create tests to the rigor of the SAT". I'm tired of going to professional developments, where I am taught to use a specific strategy with my students, and then being told when I implement that strategy, that it wasn't rigorous enough, in context with the text, etc. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to hit a constantly moving target.
Ultimately, I am creating this post to try and combat the frustration that I'm feeling right now. Over the years, I have collected writing my students have done that made me joyous- whether they are letters of appreciation, or test answers that made me laugh. I have also posted my letter about Why I Teach, some of my student's art and poetry, and most recently, my experience getting free books for my classroom library.
I received this letter around the end of the year, with a bowl of homemade posole. It was delicious, and so spicy it made my eyes water (the letter might have also contributed to that). We had been working for multiple weeks on a 20 paragraph essay on Shakespeare that I had assigned the kids- most of them moaning and groaning because it had been the longest essay any of them had ever been assigned. When the student dropped it off, she told me how she appreciated the assignment and all the work we had been doing in class, because she knew that it would prepare her for college.
This student gave me her letter right after I had a really bad confrontation with another student. It was a good reminder that even when one student is struggling, there are 100 other kids who still benefit.
A morrow is a bird. Nope.
If you try to hunt with a participle, you are not going to come back with much. Just saying.
When I taught 8th graders, we did a unit on The Hunger Games. The student was supposed to compare and contrast Peeta and another character. The answer that Peeta "likes to make Peeta bread" literally made me laugh aloud when I was grading these.
She is such a discourse. My favorite nonsense insult.
An anecdote is a short or amusing story about an event. I think this student confused anecdote with the word antidote. Either way, why are you drinking it before the game?
How often do you get alluded?
This was a student's excuse for why he could not write an argument paper. Clever, but no dice kiddo.
This student had a rap sheet a mile long, mostly for graffiti and drugs. I thought it was a fascinating insight into why he chose to commit acts of vandalism.
Texting one of my students. She figured out who it was because I "used proper punctuation and spelling". It was fun while it lasted.
My kids had to write an essay about the origin of their name. This student wrote this the same year that my friend Johnny committed suicide. I have written about a poem about him that you can see here, and also posted some of his writing here. When I graded this, there may have been some tears, but now I think it was a really interesting coincidence. Sometimes I wonder if my students have a psychic connection to me.
Finding an appropriate writing utensil is hard.
At the end of the day, I love teaching and I love my kids. I just needed to remind myself that all this time and effort is worth it. Thank you to everyone for taking the time to upvote, comment, and resteem. I appreciate you!
Photos and words are the property of Sunravelme
I feel for you! I teach college French as kind of a flunky, low salary, low responsibility and it suits me for now... I have so much admiration for people who teach all day and have hundreds of students to keep track of. I enjoy teaching - the actual time in front of the class - but the rest, especially the grading is SOOOO painful. I have to force, reward, chastise, bribe myself to ever get anything done. Those are some wonderful notes from students. That kind of thing really does make it worth it. Bon courage to you! You're doing something right (a lot of things actually :-)
Thank you! I hope I'm doing something right- observations make me feel like I always need to be doing more. It's nice to get a chance to slow down once in a while.
One of the biggest problems with teaching is that you COULD theoretically always be doing more! Finding the balance can be hard.
I so very much enjoyed reading all of these little pieces of your life as a teacher. I wanted to say about your friend, Johnny, (so very sorry for your loss) that I am not a believer in coincidences. It's my feeling that your student writing that name was actually possibly a sign from your dear friend.
I believe our loved ones on the other side can manipulate all kinds of things, even songs on the radio, all the way down to whispering a name into a child's ear to give to his teacher.
Either way, I wanted to thank you for sharing so much here. I have so much respect for teachers. Cheers! -Serena
It's funny that you mention songs on the radio- he was obsessed with Johnny cash, and shortly after he died I saw a Facebook reminder of him telling me he loved me and right after that I got into the car and his favorite Johnny Cash song came on. It made for a crying day, but it was nice to feel like he was talking back. Maybe he did whisper in my students ear. Thank you for coming and checking out my page, and the lovely words!
The second letter brought me to tears. It just shows how the students appreciate your efforts as a teacher. Teachers really can create such a huge impact to the students. There are lots of teachers from my past that I look up to, teachers who encouraged me to write. Lots of love @sunravelme.
That's awesome! I'm so glad you felt like you're teachers had a positive impact on your writing. I really wish I had more room in my classroom for creative writing- the current climate of rigor and test prep is really putting a damper on that.
LOL
the struggle is real
just loving it.
I find their slang slowly creeping into my vocabulary sometimes >.>