By popular demand...at the top!

Burnout...

Chapter 11 in Christenbury really got me thinking a lot about burnout. I have a mother for a teacher, and she has taught for 25+ years and doesn't plan on retiring any time soon. How do you avoid burnout? I think a lot of it has to do with your mental makeup, the support you get from other teachers, and what kind of administration you work under. Christenbury correlates talking about certain things and burnout, but I think that the burnout influences the talk, not the other way around. I also heard one of the coolest teachers I've ever had (Tita Baumlin) say recently that you have to have passions outside of your work environment in order to survive and be happy...so I guess that's some advice from an awesome, experienced teacher as well.

I do love the encouragement Christenbury gives about us keeping up our reading as teachers. If we expect students to read, love reading, or get anything out of reading, then I do believe we must be continuing to do the same. Teachers who are out of touch or don't care, reflect that in their teaching...and hopefully teachers that really love reading reflect that as well.

THE END!!!!

Well, these two books were great and have become valuable resources, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't glad that they are finished. No offense to Christenbury or Gallagher.....I'm just spent.

However, I got a little scared at a part of what she said. I honestly feel like I can see myself teaching for the rest of my career. Sure, I might jump around the country or at least around a few school districts, but I see myself teaching for a long, long time. But what if I'm one of the teachers that burn out immediately - that get too caught up in all of the crap that goes along with it, that I miss the joy that comes with this field of work?? I would be crushed - especially since this was a second career choice that involved 3 additional years of school (yep, that's right - 7 years of college).

I'd like to think that this won't be me. I mean, I have learned how to work full time and go to school full time (in addition to all of the other things I am involved in), so its not like busyness is not a familiar condition for this girl. But part of me is still scared of it. I just can't see myself doing anything else with my life, so if its not teaching.........

So I take to heart the advice that she gives - having an outlet, having my own social time, reading my own books, finding a hobby to pursue, etc. These will be part of the answer to keeping me in the classroom for as long as I love it. And I hope that's a really long time.

And with that, farewell to the blog!!

Chapter 11

Its funny as I was reading Chapter 11, I didn't really think that any new information was given, but at the same time, I was interested in what Christenbury was saying. Then I came to the part about BURNOUT. It was odd that Christenbury had brought the reasons up on why teachers don't stay in the teaching profession. See, just yesterday I was approached by a woman I know and she told me that as soon as I was done teaching she had a job waiting for me, even if it was 2 or 3 years from now since as she said, "teachers don't last long". I must have looked at her like she was crazy, not that she was saying anything I had not heard before, but it was the fact that I had never really thought about myself being one of the teachers that left the profession early, really early for the matter. This woman said it so matter of a fact, like she knew I would be calling her in a few years wanting this great job that did have quite a few perks...but it was missing one important thing, I wasn't going to be helping students and having an impact on their education and their lives! So when I read Christenbury's section on teacher burnout, I really read it (does that make sense??!!). I'm glad that she wrote about why teachers might leave after just a year or two and why teachers stay in the classroom. If I am more aware of reasons why teachers leave, I will be able to recognize them faster and hopefully be more prepared to deal with them head on rather than leave a profession I am SO excited to enter!!!!!

They still need an education, but some things have changed.

After reading Christenbury describe the similarities and differences that exist in schools today I realized, as she said, that school has not changed much in structure but the purpose of the school is growing to include personal needs and not just education.  This represents the change of times.  While she mentions this in the chapter, I think it is important as future teachers that we remember that whether we like it or not or job of giving students of education is evolving.  Students are looking more and more to their teachers for advice, encouragement, comfort, someone they can trust.  People are getting busier and busier with life and having time to invest in your own  child in some instances gets put on the back burner.  Students look at teachers as someone that can give them a chance.  Students will rebel against us because we are authority figures but am I willing to give up on students, give up on the future because kids are being kids or will I be able to see through that and reach students.  If you just read all of this thanks for reading my ramblings.

Making the Journey...

Christenbury, if nothing else, gives us many ways to look at our teaching styles in this chapter. We can be maniacal and devote 110% of our time to our class and end up hating our students, our job and ourselves, or...

We can take the road less traveled for new teachers. Balance our workload, keep grading and planning work at school (including griping to your spouse), and find someone at school you can share with when times are hard.

I find this to be a successful bit of advice in any profession. As a much older student, I've had numerous jobs where I have attempted to do my best, but have been hampered by rules, mandates, and bureaucracy. My solution has been to find someone who you can gripe to. You don't want to find someone who is overly negative, as they may push you to the "disgruntled" personality. You want someone who can agree when they should and help you find that light at the end of the tunnel when it's there. This will keep you balanced, but feeling like you have a true avenue for venting.

~Stan

20 years down the road...

Can you imagine that in 20 years, you will be sitting at your computer reflecting on all the times you put into your classroom? 20 years in a classroom...in any place...seems like a long time. Do you know how many students you will have in 20 years of teaching? Do you think it is important to make a connection with each of these students throughout the time spent in your classroom? Well, I do. I know that after 20 years of teaching, i will be able to look back and reflect on the fact that i touched almost 2000 students lives. I think this will be an amazing feeling. For a feeling like this, do you really think it will be easy? No- it will not be easy. In fact, the first 5 years are going to be the hardest, but we must return to the classroom every day, year after year, because we have students lives to affect. My favorite teacher in high school (one who i still talk to every week) was in the classroom for 30 years before i had her as a teacher and she still seemed enthusiastic about her material every day. Yes, she has probably been teaching the same information year after year for the past however many years, but she still loved it and still did it every day. Now that she is retired, she is back in the classroom subbing at least 3 days a week because she loves it so much. I hope that in 20 or 30 years i will be as excited about teaching. I know that seems like a long way away-- but i am excited for that feeling!