teacher stress – Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

I have been so busy this month, can you tell? Sorry for space between notes to you! Hopefully everything will settle down after Christmas break. I hope!

Well, even though it is mid-week, I figure that we all could still use a theme song for the week. Click play and then read on.

The message is simple today, which I have been saying a lot lately…it is nonetheless true. 🙂

Don’t worry, Teacher.

School can be hectic. There is so much to do. There is so little time. Teaching is tough.

It is easy to get caught up in the cycle of stress. We get worn out. We start to let plates fall. The stress builds. We get even more tired. We let more plates fall. More stress. More tired. More broken plates on the floor. And the story goes on and on this way.

We teachers like to worry. Okay, we don’t like it, but we are drawn to worry. We have to worry. There is often no choice but to worry.

Stress is coworker. It is in our classroom. It comes in with the students. It comes in with the administrators. It comes in with our fellow teachers.

It surrounds us. It swallows us whole. It is the lurking monster around every corner. We walk on eggshells trying not to let it know that we are around.

Such is the life of a a teacher. Stress and worry.

And that is just the school stuff! I won’t even go into the stress and worry that comes along with the rest of our lives. Family. Friends. Life in general.

And all of this just gets magnified this time of year. I am writing this before Christmas, but pick the time of year and there is probably something to magnify stress and worry for us.

So what do we do?

We remember one thing…it will all eventually be all right. Everything’s going to be all right.

We can stress less. We can.

We can not worry so much. It is true.

We just have to prioritize and focus.

Easier said than done…but we can do it.

It is not a crime to let some plates drop. We can clean up the mess and move on. It is not a big deal. It just isn’t.

To quote my friend Pete the Cat when he lost one of his groovy buttons, “Do we cry? Goodness no! Buttons come and buttons go.” We can keep on singing our song!

Stuff, stress, and worries come and go. They do. They do not have to drive us to the brink. They don’t.

Don’t worry, Teacher. Every little thing is going to be all write.

Don’t worry, be happy.

It is okay to be happy.

Be happy today. Do it for your students. Do it for you. Find something about what needs to happen today and the rest of the week that makes you happy and let that drive you. Don’t worry so much. Be happy!

I know that you can! I believe in you!

(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the image if you link back to the blog and/or give credit to Dear Teacher/Love Teacher)

As I said, I am writing this before Winter Break. If you are reading this before break, take the rest of the week and make it less stressful. Find a way. Be happier. It is okay. You are allowed to do that from time to time. You and your students will be better for it!

You are awesome and amazing, as usual. You can and do try to stress less and be happier. Good for you! You students are definitely reaping the benefits of it! You are making a difference in their life by showing them it is possible to stress less and be happier. They will need those lessons one day! You are so great and I believe in you so much! Go get it today and make today great! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

Dear Teacher,

For those of you on summer break, what have you been up to so far this summer? I have had a little break, as you know, but now I am back to work…at least the planning part of our job. My school is emphasizing planning over the summer, and understandably so. For this reason, this has been a week of intense planning for me. After a few days of hardcore planning like this, I feel very worn out. I don’t know how that goes for you, but it can get exhausting for me!

Or are you still in the let-last-year-fade-away phase of summer? It was a great year, or not so great, and you just need to let the memories slide away and relax a bit so that you can be ready for the next one. This is an important part of the summer. We can not carry all of the stress (good or bad) from last year into next year. A part of summer is to unwind so that you can get wound back up again. It is vital to your teaching heart to have a little time to let last year go! You have been emptied out and you need to fill back up!

To those teaching right now (especially the Southern Hemisphere-ers), how are things going for you? Are you still in the easier times of the year or is it the nose-to-the-grindstone time when the students are not as excited to be in school and you have a million things to do? Are you still pumped up and enthusiastic about all that you have to do? Or are you tired, beat up, and on the edge of burn out? Are you just somewhere on the roller coaster in between the too extremes?

Where ever you are in all of this, it is important to remember not to sweat the small stuff. Almost a month ago I posted about this and encouraged you to celebrate the small stuff. Today’s post is just a reminder to do just that! All of the little things that annoy us, wear us down, and beat us up little by little (including those held over from last year) can become a mountain that eventually falls and crushes us. We need to build a retaining wall against them…and we do that by celebrating all of those little things that are great every day, week, month, and year!

Another way to look at it is to think of the motivational poster I shared yesterday. As teachers, we really are a buoy in the water there to guide, protect, and lead our students to where they need to go. It can be lonely and hard as the “small stuff” comes in as waves and beat on us. The thing about buoys like the one in the poster, though, is that they are held in place by an anchor. Celebrating and remembering those little things that go well can be the anchor that holds us in place! The waves can come, but we know why we are there and why we became a teacher. To lead the way for a brighter future for our students!

(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the picture only if you link back to this blog.)

So…

Summer planning teacher:

Celebrate what you have already finished!
Throw a party for the work you will not have to do during the year because you did it now!
Toast the great things that your students will be able to accomplish because you worked so hard to plan for them!

Summer relaxing teacher:

Celebrate those small changes you saw in your students throughout the year, especially the more challenging students!
Throw a party for the growth that you see in yourself as a teacher! You are an even better teacher than you were at this time last year!
Toast the accomplishment of a year well done, no matter if it was your best year, your worst, or somewhere in between! Teacher, you made it and now you are on the other side!

Teacher in the throws of teaching:

Celebrate those things that are going right! What is working well for you right now? Those are awesome! Celebrate them!
Throw a party for those students that are truly connecting to what you are teaching! This is why you do what you do! Have a 10 second party for these kids once in a while!
Toast the things that you have been able to notice that are not working and you have changed to teach your students better! How have you monitored and adjusted to improve student learning? Here’s to those things! Cheers!

Teacher, celebrate! Dig that anchor in deep and the sweaty small stuff won’t affect you as much! The celebrations are important. You need them. Don’t forget to celebrate a little something every day!

You are so awesome! You are a great teacher! You are making a difference! I truly believe in you! Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher