Are We Going to Burn Out?

I've truly enjoyed my Christmas break. I got away from school and even managed to mostly avoid my email and my reader. I've managed to actually read a few real novels and played a whole lot of board games with my kids.

Taking this time has been great because I've really felt on the edge lately. When you are immersed in work, you don't often notice it just like I imagine a fish doesn't notice the water. But the truth is, I work a lot of hours. Just as I tell people when I am speaking, everything comes with a choice. In my classroom, my tech activities have been at the expense of such expendables as a spelling program, a whole lot of worksheets, and other things I really needed to get rid of. But overall, my teaching and the hours I put in come at the expense of other things. Most often those things include sleep, exercise, and any hint of free time.

Lately I've been wondering about this. The tech is important and the connections between kids and the perspective they are gaining is essential to expanding what we think schools and learning are about. But how many people are going to pick this up if it comes with a herculean effort? I'm often out of bed between 4:30 and 5 trying to answer email and do some of my own writing, at work by 7 (official day begins at 9), and pick my work back up from 8 - 10 after my own kids are in bed as I refuse to sacrifice my time with them.

Don't get me wrong, I realize there are hundreds of people out there who probably put in longer days then I do and there are certainly far more important problems in the world to tackle than my hours of work, but when we look at the difficulties of expanding these ways of teaching and learning, this is one of them. Burn out in our profession is a real enough problem as it is and it comes from too many competing priorities and a lack of clear goals.

So heading back into school on Monday morning to begin the second half of the year, my goal is to find more fat to eliminate in my teaching and my classroom program. If I am committed to making global connections a priority for my classroom (and I am) then I need to find ways to make it more easily sustainable.

Or is this the price that needs to be paid for carving out paths in the woods?

Comments

[Suzanne Shanks]

Thanks for your blog; I read it often.

I've been steeped in this question myself. In fact, I tweeted this just today, "New qtr, new kids. Asking myself: shall I innovate or revert to tried and true? Innovation=workaholism sometimes but keeps us all engaged." It seems my work life has inched up from around 50+ hours a week for the beginning of my career and now it hovers near 65+. That's just too much.

I, like you, spent winter break reflecting, playing, and resting. (However, it was a pleasure and a luxury for me to have time to catch up with my online networks.) As I consider the coming semester, I feel as though I've just lived through some sort of life crisis--that's how hard last semester felt to me. Not to be melodramatic; it just was. It shouldn't have been that hard but there have been some extenuating circumstances and I am in the middle of a mid-teaching-career angst.

Rather than say it all here (too long already) I'll link to my blog posts, "Has Teaching Lost Its Magic?" http://tinyurl.com/36ltr7 and "Pruning Again" http://tinyurl.com/2xa8uh. Clay Burell is hosting a great comment thread which also relates to your post regarding "leaving teacher to become a teacher" at http://tinyurl.com/3yxx3m. So many others have addressed this better than I can. Your readers might enjoy it.

I've been comforted by all the buzz in the blogosphere about other educators' concerns with the present state of schools, the teaching profession, and educational technology; it's very validating, as I thought I was just unreasonably discontent. On the flip side, I'm also optimistic that by choosing very, very carefully how to spend my teaching time and energy, taking good care of myself outside of work endeavors, and accepting the things I cannot change will make this a new and happier year of lively practice. I wish that for you, too. Happy New Year!

[Ann O]

I hover between "I'm not doing enough" mode and "I can't do any more". I had the opposite experience from you. I felt relaxed over vacation, but when I went back on Thursday, I felt disheartened. I see what could be and isn't yet. I don't have a self-contained class. I teach K-8 computers and 6th grade math.

Integrating technology takes up a lot of time in two ways: getting the projects completed with the students AND taking the time I feel I need to spend on evenings and weekends to connect to potential projects and get new ideas.

I spend time with my children and husband, but have traded television and reading for pleasure for developing new projects and connections. The projects are well worth my time and effort, but I have a hard time involving others in my school. We're carving paths in the woods and that is never a short term endeavor.

[Chris Betcher]

Nice post Clarence, and good to be reminded of just how overachieving we can be. I must admit I was spending more and more time online, especially during October & November where I seemed to be totally immersed in my blogging and podcasting and twittering and so on. I felt like I was part of so many online communities and events, especially in the heels of the K12 Online event... things were getting very all consuming. You know you're crossing the line when you keep sharing all your exciting finds online and you hear people say to you "How do find time to do all this stuff?" more than 3 or 4 times a day!
In December my girlfriend arrived from Canada and I've been spending way less time online and more time in the 'real world' and it's been kinda nice! Went for a bike ride this morning, started reading books again (ah books, I remember them!) and we even got off the grid a few times just to take a holiday (She's a geek chick too).
Thanks for the reminder about keeping life in perspective. The truth is that the world won't stop turning if we don't get that last little thing finished! It just seems that way sometimes.

[Chris Betcher]

Nice post Clarence, and good to be reminded of just how overachieving we can be. I must admit I was spending more and more time online, especially during October & November where I seemed to be totally immersed in my blogging and podcasting and twittering and so on. I felt like I was part of so many online communities and events, especially in the heels of the K12 Online event... things were getting very all consuming. You know you're crossing the line when you keep sharing all your exciting finds online and you hear people say to you "How do find time to do all this stuff?" more than 3 or 4 times a day!
In December my girlfriend arrived from Canada and I've been spending way less time online and more time in the 'real world' and it's been kinda nice! Went for a bike ride this morning, started reading books again (ah books, I remember them!) and we even got off the grid a few times just to take a holiday (She's a geek chick too).
Thanks for the reminder about keeping life in perspective. The truth is that the world won't stop turning if we don't get that last little thing finished! It just seems that way sometimes.

[Jeff Utecht]

Ah yes, the burn out. I set a goal at the beginning of 2007 to post a blog post once a day....ya right! Last year school ran me crazy. I was putting in 18 hour days 4 and 5 days a week and I could feel my life slipping away from me. This year I down right refuse to do school work at home. One thing I have realized is that work is always waiting for me the next day....and that's OK. Once I get home it's my time. That's when I blog, read, and do what I want to do. Of course much of that stuff does add to the work I do at school, but I refuse to check school e-mail and work directly on school projects. I, like you, am at school a good hour before I have to be and usually stay 2 hours afterwards. That's enough time, what I don't finish then can wait 'til tomorrow and you know what....I've yet to not make a deadline for work. I always find a way to get it done, and at the same time when I get home it's my time to blog if I want, read if I want, skype and twitter if I want. 2008 will see more of that, I need to get back in shape, want to learn to play guitar, and spend more time thinking and less time doing. It's hard, I love this little laptop and what it allows me to do and where it allows me to go and connect, but I need to push myself away. There really is more to life then computers and technology. We are all very passionate about what we do, we love it, we love our kids, we want what's best for them, but we need to remember that going outside for a run, just like kids need to get off the computer and go outside and play, is a good thing. Balance is the key and something that I struggle with constantly. I have a very supportive wife who is not afraid to tell me when I'm getting out of balance....and I need that! I can't always see it, but those around me can and let me know when I'm too "attached" and need to step away. Find people around you that can be your balance people and tell you when you are doing to much, taking on to many projects, and working way to hard. I've never known anyone who at the end of their life said "I wish I would have worked harder and longer." Remember that...there is a life out there worth living...and at the end of the day....our kids will be OK and probably even better for it!

[Suzanne Shanks]

Here's a follow-up article which came through my aggregator today (is that akin to a compulsive shopper saying, "Hey, I bought this great book about staying away from the mall?"). It's from ZenHabits via LifeHacker.

3 Ways To Claim Your Life Back - How To Step Away From Your Computer
http://zenhabits.net/2008/01/3-ways-to-claim-your-life-back-how-to-step-away-from-your-computer/

And if we use this freeware we can never return to the Land of Denial again.

Windows and Mac only: Monitor your computer activity easily and efficiently with freeware application RescueTime.
http://lifehacker.com/software/featured-download/monitor-application-usage-with-rescuetime-324076.php

[Clarence Fisher]

I think many of you are right about trying to achieve the work / life balance thing. It comes back a lot to our perceptions of trying to do right by our kids and trying to do the best job we can do. But there is always the law of diminishing returns. I can work 10 hours / day at full speed. I can work from 10 - 12 hours at about 75%, after that, I know my personal productivity falls off rapidly. We may think we are working harder, but often we are not, just longer. This is why I think it is important that we try to keep some perspective into this. The work is important, vital, and absolutely needs to go ahead, but it comes with a cost that we need to be aware of.

[Jenny]

Your final point about finding things to eliminate seems like a critical one to me. We continually add to what we are trying to do as teachers (either by our choice or forced upon us) and there are only so many hours. Keep writing about this! As you eliminate things I'd love to know what they are.

Our school eliminated our morning announcements because it was taking between 10 and 25 minutes of each morning. Our staff fought to have that instructional time. We haven't missed the announcements at all and we're able to start our days as soon as the students walk through our doors.

[Miss Profe]

I've reached near-burnout on several occasions, and for the very reason of trying to be fresh, new, innovative. I put my teaching way before most other things in my life, and, as much as I enjoy what I do, it can't be worth all of that. I've been trying for weeks now to regain some semblance of an early morning workout schedule, but the demands which I allow my teaching to put upon me get in the way.

Is tried and true sometimes good enough?