Teacher fatigue, or teacher burnout, is a creeping struggle that just about every teacher has felt at some point during their career. It can last a week, it can last a semester, or it can nag at you for years. Regardless of its duration, it’s a serious problem and one that needs to be addressed head-on. If you or a teacher you know is experiencing it, here are a few ideas to help you get past it.
Get Organized! If your organized your not as stressed you have a plan. If your not quite as prepared, quite as organized, and the details aren’t all worked out. Teachers can experience fatigue its quiet possibly because their classrooms, curriculum’s, and lives have become cluttered. There is too much to think about and anticipate and make up for. Perhaps it’s time to approach your job with a critical eye and see what you don’t actually need to be doing, or how doing some work in advance could save you time down the road.. Whatever it is, eliminate the tiny drags on your work and see if that doesn’t give you more breathing room.
Automate Tasks One of the main reasons for teacher fatigue is that teachers make up to 1800 decisions a day. As mentioned in Classroom Management Techniques to Handle Teacher Fatigue, teachers make about one decision every four minutes of their day. Research has found that making a lot of decisions is tiring and “Decision fatigue” can reduce your ability to make good decisions. This is why you may have a hard time completing your everyday tasks at home like cooking and cleaning, because you’ve already used up all of your decision making and willpower at work.
To help you beat teacher fatigue, you must try and limit your decision making and automate your tasks. The best way to do this is to create routines with your students where you don’t have to make any decisions for them. For example, have a routine for when students enter and exit the classroom, transition onto another subject, walk in the halls, hand in homework, etc. The more routines you create, the less the students will ask you questions, and the less decisions you’ll have to make. By creating these simple daily habits, you’re lessening your decision fatigue, which is a great way to maximize your energy.
Take a day Sometimes teachers need what some call a “mental health day.” This can be difficult for teachers to do considering all that’s on your plate – lesson plans and grading and class prep and IEPs and meetings and conferences but it’s important to take some time to yourself. If you are feeling overworked and under-appreciated and the frustration is mounting, take a day to just do you. It can make a huge difference to your outlook on the job, and a happier teacher is a better teacher.
How do you fight teacher fatigue? Do you have any classroom management that work well for you? Please share your ideas and thoughts in the comment section below, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic.