Managing Stressors to Avoid Burnout: “The Doldrums of Teaching” & Isolation

STRESSOR: “THE DOLDRUMS OF TEACHING”

“I think it goes back to the growth mindset again. Because if there's a challenge, like with this AP European [History] course I'm teaching right now—I have not received a lot of schooling on European history, never very in-depth, so this is a major challenge. But despite me doing this curriculum for the first time, and really touching on a lot of these detailed and historically abstract concepts for the first time, it's a chance for me to expand my historical comprehension. It's a chance for me to expand my resume. And it's a chance for me to (…) provide students another outlet for their interest in history, even if a majority of the students couldn't care less about European history. I do have a good amount of students, Seniors, who are taking the course right now who are going into the humanities, and this course means a lot to them because it'll bolster their college resume, their transcripts, and help them develop the skills necessary to (…) complete a Humanities program.”

“Finding purpose in it and making that purpose more intrinsic and meaningful to me, that's how I can avoid the doldrums of teaching.”

STRESSOR: ISOLATION

“I have a loving wife (…) Having a partner who I can just bounce things off of; cultivating a friend group that you can just de-stress with, hang out with, just not think about work or something, lets you get your mind off thing—that helps. At my current school the community of educators is awesome. And something that I never had until last year in my teaching career was interdisciplinary colleagues that I could just talk to—about student behavior, student achievement in classes. It helped to make sense of things and provide clarity to issues I was having in the classroom, so that when I leave the school grounds I can leave that issue there and not bring it home with me.”

“So I think having different communities of support helps—loved ones, friends as well as colleagues. I think that really helps to alleviate a lot of the stress and the burden that education can put on an educator.”