Everybody spends at least 13 years as students in the public education system – for the most part. Some of us decide for whatever reason that we want to spend even longer in public education and go onto college to become educators. I have spent a total of 33 years in the public education system and have seen my fair share of management-lacking teachers and problem students. Whether we commit to enhancing the lives of others as teachers, or sign out of education once we graduate high school, we have all experienced the stressed-out, unorganized, scatterbrained, novice teacher. This teacher may be younger or older, but either way, they are easily recognizable. I remember several classrooms in my educational path and a few colleagues that I have worked with who fit into this category. These teachers are usually trying to do their best, but have a lot going on in their personal life or just lack the passion and drive that it takes to thrive in this profession. Even more so, I have witnessed college programs that have ill prepared these teachers and an increasingly amount of teachers in my current district whom foregone the traditional training and have opted for alternative licensing. Oftentimes, when teachers begin to feel like they have lost control in their classroom, it causes a panicked and depressive spirit within the teacher. I have told new teachers several times that it is easier to begin the school year strict and lighten up, than to have to tighten down the second semester because they were too lenient on students the first semester. Not to compare students to animals but you give them enough lead they will work to a gallop, you have to take them by the bit early.
I honestly think that this is the biggest reason for teacher burnout. Most of the time when teachers get to the burnout stage, they are exhausted, frustrated, forgetful, struggling to concentrate and overall struggling to manage themselves – let alone a classroom with 20-30 other individuals (Bourg Carter, 2013). I talked in an earlier discussion about my fifth grade classroom, this was a great example of out of control. The students controlled the classroom and took advantage of a very nice person that was lacking basic classroom management strategies. Was this a deficiency of our teacher, some could say yes and place a magnitude of the blame on her. I am unaware of her training as I was just a punk kid at the time so I cannot place the blame on her education. I do believe she had a huge heart for helping students and would not have gotten into the education field if that wasn’t her goal. Looking back on that fifth grade year, kids were sent to the office to return later that day, I myself visited a few times and got to eat a cookie or two with our principal and was ushered back to class. Furthermore, I don’t believe I saw too many visits from veteran teachers or our principal in that classroom. As I have become a professional and have invested many years in education I can truly believe that “bad” teachers are made. The lack of support or advanced training is a huge issue for out of control classrooms and poor management. I can attest to this in my current district. New teachers are not supported well, I have made this statement a few times in leadership meetings that it’s like handing them the keys, saying don’t mess it up and we will be back in April to mitigate the damage and tell you if we will have you back. That is not a fun place for anybody let alone new teachers to the profession. In a study conducted by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers on why teachers leave the profession the data showed 42% of young teachers leave the profession due to the lack of support and mentoring of experienced teachers and administration (Marsh, 2015). I do believe that it is on the professional to seek help in their craft through professional development and they must ask for help. Administrators may have the best intentions to get into classrooms, but in today’s educational system they are often chained to their offices filling out reports A-Z and then some. I truly believe and have stated in those leadership meetings that we need to have a vision of whom we want in our schools as teachers, a hiring philosophy and I believe it boils down to three factors. First a genuine love and desire to help kids, second someone that is a hard worker that will put in the appropriate time, and lastly a person of high character. Needing a genuine love of students means you are going to put them first in your professional life. You will invest time and effort to make personal connections with each student on your roster. Build and foster those relationships that makes students not only want to be there but cannot wait to see what is happening in class today. Hard workers that used to be common but the concept is getting lost. We need teachers that view the profession as work. So many educators get into the field for the wrong reasons and are frankly upset when they realize its work. They are lazy and try to “fly by the seat of their pants.” Nobody ever told them about the hard work and the burn out. They show up late, have the car turned on by the last bell and even leave early. They need to realize it’s a full time job and to be intentional of every second they are with students. I’m not saying it’s about content every moment but you should be teaching, modeling and demanding something of yourselves and your students every second. Character to me means we are excited about what we are doing and have a high drive for not only ourselves but those around us. We expect to do things in the best interest of everyone associated with us and relish the pressure of ensuring we do things right all the time. If these things are at the forefront of your teaching philosophy, I believe management takes care of itself as will the feeling of burn out in the profession.
Building valued student relationships is key to leading students to success. Success what does that look like? Some of my colleagues over the years look at success as students are only successful if they get an A. Some argue that successful students are college bound. My view is if they will be productive in society and do right by their fellow humans. This brings me to my student, we will call him “Darren” to protect his identity. Darren was that kid, talked about in the teacher’s lounge, was constantly over the intercom being called to the office and was the prototypical explanation of the “unsuccessful” student. My first day in class with Darren saw him grab a purse strap from a girl’s desk and try to choke another student. I swiftly interjected and sent him to the hall while I got the other students doing a get to know one another activity. Before I could get out to him to “reach” him he began banging on the wall, well my talk I was preparing to change his behavior went right out the window. I exited my classroom and the 21 year old former college football player took over, it went something like this “I was looking for a job when I found this one and I’m not afraid to go back to jail…..,” I’ll save you from the rest of it. Somehow it got his attention, the conversation continued with why he thought it was OK to act that way and finally into tears as he said no-one ever talked to him that way. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, thinking Tuesday morning mom and dad would surely be in the office wanting my job. But it never happened, nor did the outbursts, crazy behavior it just stopped. Darren and I would have many other talks about why he got the reputation he had and if he valued that reputation. I stopped by his house to get the just of why he was the way he was a few times and quickly figured out the why.
Mom and Dad just didn’t care, about his grades, his behavior even where he was at night. I gained a lot of respect for that kid just seeing what he went through on a daily basis. I invested time into him and others teaching him to weld and made deals that I would stay after to teach him more if he got and remained eligible. The kid bent over backwards for me and got himself eligible for the first time in his high school career. I actually lent him a vehicle to get to his after school job for a month till he bought one himself. Other teachers really looked down on me for the effort I put into him but I will tell you I trusted that kid more than many of my colleagues at the time. I’ve had the opportunity to keep in touch with Darren over the years and he fits right into my definition of success and I’m glad I had the opportunity to see him reach that level. I bring this up because we need to invest in our students lives. Reaching out and getting to know students, really reaching in to their lives and finding out why they are the way they are makes a huge difference in all avenues. The straight A student to the Darren’s need to know you will invest in them, get on a first name basis with parents, and don’t be afraid to have the hard conversations with them. You might be the first and only person in their lives to be real with them.
References:
Bourg Carter, S. (2013, November 26). The Tell Tale Signs of Burnout ... Do You Have Them? Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/high-octane- women/201311/the-tell-tale-signs-burnout-do-you-have-them
Marsh, S. (2015, January 27). Five top reasons people become teachers – and why they quit. Retrieved April 21, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/jan /27/five-top-reasons-teachers-join-and-quit
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