Burning On

by Paula J. Sanders-Nelson ~November 13, 2022

Everyone has heard of teacher burnout, right? More students, more paperwork, more discipline issues…daily. It’s enough to make many take off their teacher hats and hang it up.

“It's caused by chronic stress due to unrelenting workplace demands. The National Education Association defines teacher burnout as “a condition in which an educator has exhausted the personal and professional resources necessary to do the job.” It's not just about the ability to educate effectively, though.Sep 15, 2022 Teacher Burnout: A Growing Problem in Schools - Talkspace

 

My last year teaching high school was a bit much. There were some nights when I couldn't close my eyes without dreaming about the noise and violence. Yes, I said violence. 

My plate was already full with work, plus family health issues and now pile on the daily discipline issues, fights, lack of administrative support, apathetic students and the list goes on, I was teetering on the edge of good-bye teaching profession.

So many at this point ask, well, why didn’t you just quit?

Reasons, well there are many…not only was my family depending on me financially, but I had students who became like family depending on me for emotional support. How could I, in the midst of all of the chaos, simply walk out on them? If I was feeling anxious, nervous, stressed and borderline traumatized, how were they feeling?

 I looked out each day at a group of students who should have been elated to be back in school and moving into the normality of school days: homecoming, prom, field trips, athletics…instead, I saw a lot of blank faces. Many turning to artificial substances to escape the raucous. How could I just leave? I couldn't, I toughed it out. 

I am still toughing it out. It's a new year, new school, new kids, but I look out and see the similarities. They are keeping their heads above water, trying to be in the norm, but there is a lot going on inside of those young minds. So, my teacher hat is still on, I enter the classroom everyday, a little bit older but hopefully a little bit wiser. I’m burning on.