1st Blog Post

Teacher Burnout: What to do?

Many people become teachers because of emotional ties to the profession.  Having had "wonderfully heroic and charismatic teachers" as children, they now desire to give back and benefit a new generation.   Unfortunately, wanting to be a good educator is not the same as actually being one.  In fact, some of the same characteristics that make teachers great can also lead to teacher burnout, such as being emotionally invested in one's students.  While caring for and believing in one's students is part of their success, teachers who take student failure personally often suffer from emotional burnout.  Lindsay Chinn from "TEACH" admitted that she takes each student failure to heart, which forces her to work harder for her students, but at what cost?  Many teachers like Chinn suffer from emotional exhaustion, which is a leading cause of burnout according to a study conducted by Herman, Hickmon-Rosa, and Reinke.
When asked "how do you know when you're a great teacher?" Chinn emphatically replied, "I don't know!  I don't know if I'll ever know."  Another cause of emotional burnout is a lack of educational pedagogy and low self-efficacy levels.  While Ms. Chinn is shown to be an excellent teacher throughout the documentary, the stress of teaching can cause even the best of educators to become cynical and emotionally spent.
Another large cause of teacher burnout is a lack of support from administrative staff and fellow teachers.  "TEACH" did a wonderful job of showing teacher-principal collaboration and the benefits of having supportive staff.  Both Matt Johnson and Lindsay Chinn were able to seek advice from their principals and implement new ideas in their classrooms, Mr. Johnson finding exciting reading material for his students, and Ms. Chinn implementing 360-degree math.  In both cases, the additional support of the administrative staff aided both the teachers and students.
Because "teaching is a stressful profession" as confirmed by Kieth Herman, it is necessary to actively combat burnout before it is too late.  Practices such as "proactive screenings", which can catch burn out sooner, and providing support services to reduce stress and promote a healthy lifestyle can go a long way in reducing teacher burnout.  Additionally, building a school climate where all staff feels valued and respected will reduce teacher stress and therefore lessen burnout.
           Based off of Herman et al.'s research, coping skills seem to be a determining factor for how severely teachers and their respective classes are affected by stress.  Teachers with moderate to high coping skills were less likely to suffer from burnout and negatively affect students.  By implementing programs that help teachers improve upon their coping skills and reduce daily stress, teachers and students alike should be positively impacted.