Burnout

[theoverlander]

My apologies if this has been posted or discussed already.

How do you deal with burnout? I'm only 5 days into the school year and I'm so done. Our classes are on overload, our reading curriculum materials are a hot mess, and getting little kids logged on to take their baseline STAR tests just about killed me this week (due to technology snafus).

I have been in some sort of teaching capacity since high school, when I headed up an after school program. Now I teach 2nd grade. Altogether I've logged 23 years. And I am so done.

What can I do to make it better? I hate the feeling of dread I have every single morning. I have my own elementary age children, so it is all kids, all the time. DH tries to help, but he works long hours with a long commute (although honestly most days I would LOVE to have a long commute where no one talks to me or bothers me for a full hour twice a day).

Help!

[nsl]

Is it the classroom that you're burned out on, or schools/working with kids in general?

[theoverlander]

Sept 13, 2017 16:56:36 GMT -5 nsl said:

Is it the classroom that you're burned out on, or schools/working with kids in general?

I think it's a combination of the classroom and the school/district politics. Almost every one of our classes is overloaded throughout the school, but the district won't do anything about it even though we are a very well off district. On the school level more and more little things are piling up - things like being asked to come in early before curriculum night for a staff meeting, or the specialists asking us to be to their rooms 5 minutes early (so we lose 5 minutes of our plan time) because they are having a hard time getting one group out and another group in. Then I have some severe behavior problems in my class (kiddos on plans such as earning bears for returning from recess without physically hurting anyone), two diagnosed high functioning/short fused autistic students (I love them both, but they both have frequent outbursts), several English Language learners and IEPs, and not any support. I'm just constantly exhausted.

Hopefully I don't sound like a whiny kid, ha. It's been a tough week.

[flamingeaux]

Sept 13, 2017 20:17:42 GMT -5 theoverlander said:

Sept 13, 2017 16:56:36 GMT -5 nsl said:

Is it the classroom that you're burned out on, or schools/working with kids in general?

I think it's a combination of the classroom and the school/district politics. Almost every one of our classes is overloaded throughout the school, but the district won't do anything about it even though we are a very well off district. On the school level more and more little things are piling up - things like being asked to come in early before curriculum night for a staff meeting, or the specialists asking us to be to their rooms 5 minutes early (so we lose 5 minutes of our plan time) because they are having a hard time getting one group out and another group in. Then I have some severe behavior problems in my class (kiddos on plans such as earning bears for returning from recess without physically hurting anyone), two diagnosed high functioning/short fused autistic students (I love them both, but they both have frequent outbursts), several English Language learners and IEPs, and not any support. I'm just constantly exhausted.

Hopefully I don't sound like a whiny kid, ha. It's been a tough week.

That sounds like an insane amount of well... insanity. I'm still less than 3years in, and can't imagine dealing with all of that.

[nsl]

I would be looking to transfer to a different, better-run school next year.