Five Tips for Preventing Teacher Burnout

 

Let's be honest.

Teaching is a hard job. Harder than any of us imagined it would be. And the pandemic has increased the problems and difficulties, and it looks like it will be a very slow return to "normal." In fact, according to recent surveys conducted by the National Education Association, "high percentages of teachers [are] thinking about leaving the profession." 

I have been one of them.

Teacher burnout has always been around, but it seems to be especially high right now. The good news is that you can come back from burnout and feel excited about teaching again. Let's talk about 5 tips for preventing (or reversing) teacher burnout.

Five Tips for Preventing (Or Reversing) Teacher Burnout

Brain Breaks FREEBIE!!! (And doesn't everyone like free stuff?)

Confession Time: When I first began my teaching career I made a dreadful mistake. (Pathetically, I admit I repeated this mistake for years.) I only used breaks when they naturally occurred or, even worse, when my students began to resemble CW zombies in need of "food." Don't get me wrong! I love watching CW's iZombie, but in my classroom?!?! Yeah. Not a good thing.

This was a horrible mistake, as I learned, because a break before the glazed-over stage takes place is ideal for student learning and the brain's memory storage. Once the glaze occurs, well, it is too late. That is when breaks help students the most. (I highly recommend all teachers reading up on the research that backs this.)

Anyway, I now use brain breaks more than ever. Sometimes we use GoNoodle, but my students really seem to enjoy using our brain break jar too. On my desk sits a plastic jar with neon green polka dots and lid that I found at a local dollar store a few years ago. Inside the jar are 18 slips of paper, each one detailing a fun, but quick, brain break activity. I'm telling you, they love it! We take turns pulling a slip from the jar and then doing whatever crazy activity is written on the slip of paper.

These brain break activities have been such a great thing in my classroom that I decided to retype them for you to have. They are FREE and can be found in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. I really hope you'll download them and enjoy using them in your classroom. Please let me know what you think.

To access them, please click on the image above or the TPT link in this post or near the top of my page. Thanks!

Daily 5 in the Intermediate Classroom... Continued... Finally!

This fall was an absolute whirlwind and here we are, on break and strolling into the winter season (even if it is an unseasonably 71 degrees here in the Virginia mountains).


While on break, it's good to reflect on the successes and areas still in need of success in my Language Arts classroom -- and my modified Daily 5 routines are a definite success that I'd like to share.

A Daily Five Diary Part 1: Implementing Daily 5 in a Departmentalized Upper Elementary Classroom

Over the summer I finally read The Daily 5 by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. Due to the masters classes I'd been taking over the past few years, I kept putting it off, but now that I've read it I am fully in! All five parts that make up the daily regiment -- Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing, and Word Work -- are research-based and contribute to a balanced literacy program. A total win-win, right?

So, here are my obstacles I'm trying to overcome as I implement Daily 5 in my fourth grade classroom:

A Bookaholic's Confession: Classroom Library Conundrum

Is anyone out there dissatisfied with the state of their classroom library? 

For years I've contemplated going about things differently, but after realizing that all of my best series, my favorite titles and most of my new books were missing and I was left with my old and unpopular titles, I decided something had to be done. That's right, folks, it was a classroom library conundrum!

This summer I've spent a great deal of time researching and working on my classroom library. Here is what I found:

5 Tips for Decorating Your Classroom On a Tight Budget

Psst! I have a secret to share...

You can decorate your classroom without spending much money and still have it look great. Trust me, I know!

As a teacher with a very tight budget (I am a mom to three preteen/teen boys, after all!), I always browsed Pinterest classrooms with drool rolling off my chin. I desperately wanted one of those classrooms that looks like the teacher had hired an interior decorator, but I certainly did not have money for it. I finally found ways to have a modified version without spending much money. So, here are my five tips for decorating your classroom on a tight budget:

Aluminum Foil Boats Race Day!

Today was another fun day of Summer School. I'm really getting the hang of this multi-age group thing. And today was Race Day, the day we've been working toward all week! I'm pretty sure that I was just as excited as the kids (maybe more). After spending the school year so focused on our state standards of learning and standardized testing, it is such a breath of fresh air to educate (and learn) without all of the pressure. 

Confessions: Good Ideas Gone Wrong...So Very Wrong (Part 1)

As a busy mom of three, it's not very often that I have time alone without distractions. However, summer mornings offer me this opportunity occasionally. This morning was one of those rare times. As I sat in the quiet of my home, considering the possibilities of the day, a random flashback occurred. Not one of those moments that are cherished. Oh no. Rather it was one of those moments that I'd hoped my recall banks would shred to pieces to make room for other memories worthier of my precious long-term memory.

The shoe disaster.

As a cautionary tale, I share this with you, friend.