Burned Out – Teaching, Traveling, and Talking

I love spring break as a teacher. In all honesty, I love it more now than when I was a student. So why do teachers need a whole week off? In two short months, I will be on a 2 1/2 month break (which really isn’t a break because a teacher’s work never ends), but why do we so desperately need a break?

I thought about this question yesterday after an insane day. Insane week. Insane month to be honest. Let me put a few things in perspective:

My days consist of getting students prepped and ready for the high stakes state test. Every day I want to pull my hair and eyes out while banging my head on the cement wall as my students stare at me with blank faces when I give a question released by the state. Let’s see…I come back from my very short (15 minute) lunch break this week to only find that during those short minutes without my kids, one child (let’s call him Billy) took another child’s head (let’s call him Bob) and banged it into the lunch table. Oh, there’s more. As he took Bob’s face toward the table, he oh so rightly aimed his nose straight into the straw of his milk carton. Milk spilled. Blood everywhere. I wish I was surprised, but after Billy stuffed a highlighter up Bob’s nose earlier in February, hey, shock is no longer in my vocabulary. Furthermore, I have dealt with many threats in my district and those around me, including a school shooting only 25 minutes down the road. The list continues. So why do we need a spring break?

First Real Break since Christmas
- I will admit, this year has been full of snow days, but after months of testing prep, paperwork, lazy co-workers, insane parents, school shootings and threats, and so much more, teachers are ready for a few days to get away from the stress.
Time to Vacation
- Luckily, I have family on the southern east coast, which gives me time to get on that plane and leave. I don’t want to just get away from work, I want to leave my state completely. I finally get some sun, relaxation, and fun.
Break from Parents and Co-Workers
- Sure, I work with some wonderful and amazing teachers. Yes, I have fabulous parents that are supportive and don’t scream at me every time they see me. Yet, I work with parents that think Joe Schmoe can do no wrong. I work with a teacher that rarely pulls her weight. By spring break–Bye Felecia.
Calm before the Storm
- Oh, spring break….I love and loathe you. Spring break brings a time of rest, relaxation, and my blood pressure goes down significantly. My heartbeat is finally beating at a normal human level. Yet, spring break signals one thing–state testing. The bane of all teachers. I understand why state testing is needed and necessary. Sure. Yet, those weeks are complete torture for my kiddos. They stress out. I see anxiety come out for 10 year olds. They are told to be silent and sit still for hours. It’s rough. Spring break is fun, but it only signals what is to come.
Signals Summer
- After spring break, and the dreaded testing season, it only means one thing–summer is on the horizon. Spring is like a Red Bull for teachers to get us through the next 8-9 weeks. A quick power up before the race to the finish line. If anything, it gives us a good reminder that we can make it and finish our year successfully!

All in all, have a wonderful spring break my friends! Travel. Relax. Sleep. Try not to work the entire week off. Visit family. Have fun! Finish your year strong!

xoxo

Your Wanderer

“You get a 3 month paid vacation. Why are you complaining?”

This phrase. A teacher’s nemesis. The phrase we hear from strangers, politicians, or read online. We hear it from those who have not stepped foot into a classroom since the day they threw their cap in the air proclaiming this phrase, not knowing the frustrations of a teacher.

So how can a teacher get burned out?

They get summers off.

Holiday breaks.

Spring Break.

Every major holiday.

Let’s not forget those snow days!

They only work 180 days out of the year! How can they possibly be burned out?

Let me break this down simply. There are three major reason we get burned out and fast:

1) State mandates changing yearly (sometimes monthly)

2) Parents

3) Colleagues

Put these in a pot and stir it all together, you have hot mess of craziness for one school year. Let me break it down for you non-teachers.

1) State Mandates

They change ALL the time. There’s little we can do. Entering 2018, we live in a world that looks down on teachers. According to most politicians, we are imbeciles that couldn’t make it in college so we chose teaching as our demeaning profession. We are viewed as glorified babysitters, sitting behind our desk while the kids color and eat glue sticks. The state can never make up its mind, and when it does make a mistake, it refuses to accept it. Teachers make phone calls to their state representatives pleading for help and doing what’s best for children. Instead money is stripped away and put toward something else. We do the best we can with the cards we are dealt.

Standards change. State mandates change. It’s part of the teaching life. Is it annoying? Yes. Do other careers deal with the same inconsistency and changing mandates (only related to their field)? Yes.

Some of us are blessed to have curriculum directors or coaches that give us guidance. Some of us have to figure it out on our own time, which is usually after dinner time or when the kids are in bed. It’s part of being an adult in the working world.

2) Parents

Ask any teacher what is the worst part of our job. The reply is generally the same: Parents.

Sure, some parents are wonderful. They send us notes to tell us how their kid is getting home, bring cupcakes to the classroom party, show up at conferences, help with homework, and work with us to make sure their child succeeds. If that’s you–we love you more than you realize.

Then…we have the ones that abuse their children–physically, mentally, or emotionally. We report issues to social services and wait for the system to do their job. If we’re lucky, the kids are taken out of the home, but it’s a long and painful process. I’ve watched a mother throw her ten year old out because the pedophile boyfriend preferred her daughter over her. There’s a family struggling to even eat so the child sneaked food from the cafeteria into his backpack. Parents pinning their child against one another to use in court. Parents have screamed at an educator, because it was somehow the teacher’s fault their daughter forgot her homework on her own bedroom floor. The list continues. Unfortunately, parents can be the ones that make this job 100 times more difficult.

Our job is emotional. We become attached to these kids, because they’re our kids. We are fiercely protective of these children.

3) Colleagues

All teachers care for their children. All teachers want to do what’s best for kids. All teachers collaborate and work together to make a friendly and safe environment.

In the words of Jim Carrey’s The Grinch–“Wrong-O”

It’s not all. Most. But not all.

You will have met, worked with, or will work with a teacher that is lazy and ineffective. He/she will sit at his/her desk, refuse to modify or accommodate assignments for kids with IEPS or struggling learners, and blames all of his/her woes on other colleagues. “It’s never my fault” seems to be their personal slogan. “It’s not my job” is often heard from this teacher’s mouth. Some teachers are bad teachers. Great people but bad teachers. If you don’t know who this teacher may be immediately, it’s most likely you. They show up late, they leave their classroom unattended, use the same worksheets year after year for thirty years, and refuse to collaborate with others. Sound familiar?

I have worked with colleagues from all backgrounds, age, and educational levels. I have seen teachers call other teachers nasty names, make kids pick and choose between them or another teacher, scream at one another in front of students, and the list continues. How is this allowed? It’s not, but it happens.

Do not be fooled. These teachers exist. Most teachers are loving, caring, and hard-working. We stay up late worrying about our students. We sneak food into their backpacks, because we know there is no food when they go home. We buy them small Christmas gifts. We love them as if they were our own. We work until the late hours of the day. We bring our work home. We put our families and children as a second priority, because we know some of our students have greater needs to be met. We cry when a child is mistreated, and we step up to be their voice and helper. MOST teachers work hard and love their job. Yet, we all have or know that one teacher that burns us out.

So how does a teacher become burned out? Some years are faster than others. We love our jobs. We care for your child/children. Just like you, we get tired at work. We become emotionally attached to our job, which makes things even harder. We bump heads with co-workers, adjust our curriculum over and over, and we fight to be the voice for those with none. Summer break is simply our rehab time to shut down and reboot.

Category: Burned Out

Why Teachers Love Spring Break

How Does A Teacher Burn Out?