This last week we read about Compassion Fatigue and Teacher Demoralization. Our first article “Dealing with Compassion Fatigue”, talked about Secondary Traumatic Stress. As teachers we will hear and see the effects of trauma on our students. It can be hard to deal with as teachers when having to hear about students' traumatic experiences. This article also explains that this is a reason why many teachers leave the profession because STS brings about burnout on our teachers.
Our second article “The problem with stories about teacher “burnout "", explains the effects of demoralization on teachers. It argues that demoralization is what causes “burnout”. Although the author does not like the term “burnout” because it implies that the teachers do not have the passion behind teaching anymore. What is actually causing teachers to leave, is other factors that are making it difficult for teachers to teach their students effectively. Legislation, admin, and the systematic oppression of minorities and low socio-economic students is making it hard for teachers to teach.
After reading these articles, which one do you think is causing teachers to leave the profession? Demoralization or compassion fatigue or other reasons? Do you have family members or know other teachers that you know that have considered leaving the profession or did leave? What are these teachers doing to support themselves or what could have helped them to stay in the profession?
I also would like you guys to think about this for yourselves. These problems that could potentially affect us so we must be aware and plan ways to support ourselves and others around us (both students and colleagues). What can we pull from Alex Shevrin Venet's podcasts on being proactive, asset-based, and equity-centered to fight demoralization? What strategies can we use from the podcasts, the preservice teacher burnout article, our class discussions and lists, and Fowler article on Compassion fatigue to help us plan and prepare for these challenges?
Here is a podcast for further support!
I believe when it comes to being a teacher, there are many causes of burnout. As a compassionate human, it can be very stressful on you as a teacher of students who share all their struggles and stress with you. There is a sense of responsibility as an adult figure in their lives, but it is not your responsibility to be the one figuring everything out for them and taking on all the stress that comes with it.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason I find for burnout as a teacher is the way we are treated as a whole from society. Teachers spend so much time helping shape the kids in their classroom and giving them resources to grow. This often goes unnoticed by parents and others in the community. Some people see teachers as "glorified babysitters". All the toxic hate towards teachers as well as the constant nagging really pulls teachers down.
I have a sister who is a teacher, and I have seen burnout through her. In her case, she feels the need to take on every students' struggles and it is beyond stressful. Wondering if when she sends a kid home if they will have food over the weekend, worrying if children are getting the counseling to help the heal from past trauma, making sure she makes her emerging bilingual students as confident as she can, and all around worrying for everyone's well being. It is simply too much for one person to take on outside of their own problems. This is also why a separation of work and home life is so important. If you do not work on it, you may find yourself struggling to take on your own life which is beyond stressful. Burnout is guarunteed if you do not use caution when it comes to work and home life.
-Annisten
I believe the reason teachers are leaving the profession is a combination of these two articles. They are being overworked to the point that they feel like they can’t do their job as they should and they are being supports for students that are facing traumatic situations. My mom left the teaching field (as a para) because she wasn’t getting support from her staff members in different situations. She loves kids and would love to go back to working in a school setting, but having a couple of negative experiences in different schools where she didn’t feel supported or have a team to help her help the students demoralized her. A couple of strategies/techniques that could be used proactively would be making sure there is a community with-in the school and staff that supports one another. This job isn’t easy for anyone, so we need to make sure we are all supporting and encouraging each other through the good and bad times (podcast: Truth For Teachers - How to deal with difficult parents as a teacher). The compassion fatigue article had also talked about not working through burnout alone as well as starting small. Finding things on the list we created as a class of different self-care strategies to try or use before we get to the point of being burnt-out so that we are in the habit of doing them already as preventative/proactive techniques.
ReplyDelete-Jorgan
In short, I think one of the biggest things that cause this sense of "burn-out" among teachers is a mixture between laws, mandates in teaching, and ability to teach. Laws in general have a big say in what teachers can and can't teach. Additionally, there is a lot of gray area with the laws, so teachers have to combat on the daily on how they teach "touchy" subjects. And, although a great way to combat this stress of meeting the laws is through research, I feel like even keeping up with all the laws and news updates can get a bit stressful too. 😰 Anyway, the mandates in teaching, such as standards, has created this stance that teachers have to show up with stats and that they got to keep pushing to meet these standards. (I think the approach that we take in our classroom really shows that we are meeting them, but maybe other educators don't get that.) My point is, there is always this I have to meet all the standards and the standards of school to be a "good teacher." Lastly, the ability to teach really matters on the law and these standards given by the state and schools. I think that sometimes teachers want to want the class to be more immersed, but with the laws and standards of it all it makes it difficult.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the podcast goes, I think I like the idea of identifying with professionals, building relationships (professionally), and creating a community within you district, school, etc. I think it's best to create a community, because you have power in numbers to make change. However, you also have people that will support you. There's this proverb, and it goes: "For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up." So, yeah. I really like that aspect of the podcast. 🥹
Sarai 😬
DeleteIt’s sad to say, but there are so many ways teachers experience “burnout’ and too little support/resources accessible for educators to help themselves. Educators are being overworked as more and more extra responsibilities are being placed on top of teaching their chosen subject. Which not only hinders their teaching abilities but also decreases the quality of lessons/education they’re providing their students. In addition, you as the teacher spend equal amounts of time (if not more) with these students as they spend at home. So it’s extremely hard to not feel attached to the traumas and experiences your students are going through outside of the classroom, as it deeply affects their participation within your class. I also agree with lots of the articles and podcasts we’ve looked at so far that have talked about this pressure put on teachers to be “the one savior that turns a kid's life around”. It puts the responsibility on you as an individual rather than the community effort that it truly takes to provide students with the adequate support they need. I believe that these are the main reasons that teachers today are experiencing a much higher and quicker rate of burnout. I also don’t think that teacher support is talked about enough and I’m really glad that we have this class to dive into different systems of support that are available and that we are learning to be proactive rather than solely reactive. Lastly, growing up in a family of educators who’s friends that came over were also all educators, I’ve seen plenty of burnout, even in the most passionate of teachers. And that is something that I think about for myself. I’m beyond excited to have my own classroom soon, however, I worry about how I will deal with separating my school life from my home life, as I have a tendency to go a bit overboard and work too much. With that being said, I think the most important thing we can do for ourselves and for our students is to build communities and networks of people/resources. To continue learning new ways to support ourselves and to be proactive about self-care systems and strategies.
ReplyDelete- Tatiana ◡̈
When talking to teachers and taking classes this semester, theres this running theme of not feeling supported mentally or even physically in the school. When Covid subsided enough to allow students back in school, we have these kids who missed crucial developments in their lives emotionally and socially. This applies to every age range as well. Combine this with the internet today and social media presences, these kids have built up a different sense of the world unlike many other generations. When you take these kids and put them in a classroom, it is extremely difficult. Teachers who could go years without burnout now are tapping out after a few years. Schools didn’t have a ton of support with teachers, especially art teachers before. Now, with added difficulties of the upcoming generation raised during covid and many of them with little to no restrictions at home during the time, that very little support now is huge in affecting a tescher’s mental health and well being.
ReplyDeleteIts important for us to take away from the article the idea of finding what works for us when it comes to self-care. If we don’t find something to keep us afloat, we’ll become burned out so quickly in such a difficult time in education. -Grace