Battling Teacher Summer Burnout
Why Doesn’t It Feel Like Summer?
I’m not sure I knew that summer burnout existed before this year. There are a ton of possible reasons as to why I am feeling this way. Perhaps, it is the residual burnout from spring online learning, the haphazard end to the school year, or now the impending question of what is to come of the fall. Maybe it is all of the above. Maybe it is more. As I wake up each day to uncertain conversations about what should take place versus what needs to take place and nobody seems to be in agreement with anybody else, I find myself doing a lot of listening and observing. I also find myself wondering how to plan ahead for what I know will be a hard school year this fall.
But, I am certain that this summer burnout is something that I know other teachers are dealing with as well. I see the posts from others each day. I carry many of the conversations with me as I speak with other families, parents, and teachers about what they think of the fall. Many are afraid. Many are overwhelmed. Many are just confused. Summertime is normally the teacher’s time to thrive. Even in the past if I chose to teach summer school, I would be writing every day. I would be reading tons of books, and I would be doing a lot of planning in the form of dreaming for the fall. I normally have a “summer stack” of books that I happily go through and think big in terms of changing how I do business or trying to be a better teacher.
But, I am tired. More than tired.
The signs of burnout that normally creep up in November have started to set in now. I am well aware of what fall burnout feels like. In my post from the fall, “The Steps I Am Taking to Recover from Fall Burnout,” I knew the necessary signs that had set in and the next steps I needed to take in order to not feel overwhelmed and drained. The first sign of feeling burnout in the fall is feeling frozen. I don’t feel frozen per se; it is summertime. I feel unmotivated. Stuck. Like creativity has been drained from me. This is burnout of a different kind.
5 Strategies to Recover From Summer Burnout
Because this feels like burnout, I went back into my toolbox about what I did regarding burnout before. Burnout happens each year of teaching. It is seasonal. I am also changing some of these strategies because inevitably the burnout is also coming from not knowing what the new year will hold for teachers, students, and families. Adjusting to a year of teaching during a pandemic has taken a lot of energy, and it will continue to cause stress in the life of a teacher unless we actively manage that stress. We have to fight back. Burnout ends because of two reasons: 1.) Rest 2.) Stopping the pattern of activity that is causing the burnout. These five strategies are interruptions into patterns of burnout for the physical parts of the body and also the mind.
1. Stop negative talk.
I put this one first because it may be one of the hardest strategies to accomplish at this point in the summer. It is so easy when talking about the coming school year to get into a place where everything is bad. Largely, because everything seems terrifying. Some of my thoughts this past month were:
“They didn’t even clean my garbage out, how are they going to keep it clean enough for my students…”
“They posted teachers are getting a cut in pay this year…”
“A neighboring district already announced that they are cutting over 30 teachers, what will they do to us?”
And more. So much more. If you read through our back-to-school roadmap in Michigan it is almost impossible not to comment on each section as to how it could not possibly be put into practice in the regular school setting. It is interesting to see how heavy it is to carry the concerns and worries that happen when you don’t know what the school year will look like. However, the first step to helping to recover from summer burnout is by stopping negative teacher self-talk. The first step is identifying when you have willingly or not so willingly entered into a negative talking situation. If needed, remove the situation. I list many strategies in the original post, but I wanted to highlight some things I am going to try when I catch myself in a groupthink session with other teachers that are all focusing on the negative (myself included). I also want to use these strategies when I find myself feeling defeated or down.
Focus on the strengths of a situation. For example, there are specific strengths that belong to online and distance learning that could be key to maintaining a positive attitude.
Be open to alternative methods of solving problems. You may not have the answer. Maybe the answer hasn’t been thought of yet.
Reaffirm in the temporary status of the situation. The school year will one day look the same. I can’t say when that day is, but it is comforting to know that it will come back someday.
Find your voice. With all things that need to be spoken, I want to find my voice regarding input in situations. I am often the listener and observer in a conversation, and some conversations are going to need my voice. All of our voices.
>>POST TO READ: “Stopping Negative Teacher Self-Talk”
2. Move your body.
Our bodies are listening to what we think and say. I could be tired, or I could be extremely unmotivated from burnout. My body is just listening to what I am thinking. I want to make sure that during this time of burnout that I am being purposeful with moving my body each day for at least 30 minutes. Because it is summertime, I do not have the same excuses that I have during the school year. I still have items on my schedule, but I have a choice as to what controls my time. My plan is to make a choice board in my journal for each day and week. I plan on choosing from:
Working in the yard, gardening, weeding, etc.
Walking the dog in the morning or at night.
Yoga YouTube videos.
Kettlebell or dumbbell routines.
HIIT workouts or circuit routines.
I can take this same element of choice with me into the fall, but I know that time will not allow my choices to be as flexible. I write about how I fit working out into my fall schedule in the post to read.
>>POST TO READ: “Using Physical Wellness Strategies to Battle Teacher Burnout”
3. Try to manage anxiety regarding the coming year.
This one goes along with stopping negative group and self-talk. However, it also addresses that teachers love to plan for the coming year. I am finding that because I feel like I can’t plan, I have stopped learning. This lack of my own learning has resulted in feeling down or feeling burnout even more. I am having to remind myself that I can still give myself permission to learn new things. Just because I won’t be able to necessarily apply those aspects of learning right away, does not take away from the fact that I am still learning. Most teachers that I know are also students who love to learn. Let’s find our own learning this summer. Personally, I want to get back into my reading habit, and I want to focus on areas of education that can inspire me to be a better teacher now and later on after the pandemic seems more manageable.
Here are some places I want to start:
Reread Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy by Gholdy Muhammad and figure out how to integrate the framework over my curriculum.
Read Being the Change: Lessons and Strategies to Teach Social Comprehension by Sara K. Ahmed.
Read Reading Nonfiction: Notice & Note Stances, Signposts, and Strategies by Kylene Beers and Bob Probst. Get excited about nonfiction texts and passionate about kids reading current events.
Revisit and reflect on my classroom’s weekly routine and make changes.
Revisit and reflect on the first marking period’s plan. Get excited about 2-3 lessons.
Reflect and research on how to build a community online. Kids love groups, stations, and moving around. I need to figure out how to incorporate engagement strategies for when online learning is needed.
Reflect and research different grading practices and methods. Read Point-Less: An English Teacher's Guide to More Meaningful Grading by Sarah M. Zerwin.
>>POST TO READ: “English Teacher Anxiety: Using Our Own Tools to Quiet Panic”
4. Use my journal to shift my mindset.
I talk about mindset shifts in my free journaling webinar about feelings and emotions on the blog. Mindset shifts are when you aware of transitioning your thoughts in your mind from one topic to another. They are moves you make on purpose. When it comes to preparing for the fall or upcoming school year, mindset shifts are tools that are particularly handy. Here are the steps to complete a mindset shift:
Get a notebook, journal, or a piece of paper.
Make three columns.
Label each column with the following prompts.
I FEEL…
I WANT…
SO,...
Now, complete the sentences across the columns. Many times our feelings come from not knowing what we want. Mindset shifts help clarify our purpose. Each time this week (and the week’s coming) I am faced with something negative that causes me to pause or feel distraught or down, I am going to focus on using the three prompts at hand. I will use these when I am planning for the fall or if something negative or doubtful creeps into my mind. An example of this shift would be:
EXAMPLE 1:
I FEEL lost without knowing a plan for teacher and student safety for the fall.
I WANT to feel safe at work.
SO, I will research ways others are ensuring their safety in other school buildings so I can provide some ideas to my district.
EXAMPLE 2:
I FEEL anxious when I don’t know the reopening plan for the fall.
I WANT to know the plan, so I can prepare.
SO, I will try to choose my own learning in the process to remain motivated.
>>POST TO READ: “Want to Shift Your Mindset When You Hate Remote Learning? Here’s How.”
5. Remove pressure to be inspired.
Some teachers I know are truly amazing when it comes to mastering the art of summer. They can turn their teacher brains all the way into the off position, and they go forth to do a variety of outdoor activities that beckon relaxation and happiness. While I enjoy a good beach trip, I also feel a certain amount of pressure in the summertime to feel inspired or to work on passion projects I can’t work on during the school year. I find that I convince myself that THIS summer is the one where I will have a breakthrough on a project or accomplish a huge goal.
While summer does lend the gift of time, it doesn’t need to offer the same amount of productivity that the year holds. I often equate my productivity to being busy. Then, I end up working away all summer to realize I never really slowed down. The work that we do as teachers is always there. The situations, strategies, research, and data are all going to be there when we return to the fall. So, summertime needs to be a time when we find inspiration, but don’t feel required to do so. In order to remove this pressure, I have begun to focus on three things I want to get done each week. I don’t assign those tasks times or days, but they have some dedicated time throughout the course of the week. I can choose my schedule. Elizabeth Gilbert said, "If you can let go of passion and follow your curiosity, your curiosity just might lead you to your passion." Let’s all let go of the necessity to be inspired and just resign ourselves to be curious this summer.
