32. Do You Need to Quit Teaching or Are You a Teachaholic?

If you have ever thought to yourself, "Should I quit teaching?" you want to listen to this episode on dealing with the expectations, overwhelm, and disillusionment that lead teachers down the path to burnout. While leaving the teaching profession may seem like the only answer to not staying up late grading, dealing with a broken system, and wrangling the student behavior choices that abound as the school year gets underway, changing how you think and manage your time can have a greater impact on your health and happiness than writing that resignation letter. The greatest changes in education will start with the teachers - because YOU are the greatest impact on the future of our students. And because of that, you deserve to make the changes that will put you on the path to happiness and success in the classroom and beyond.

Listen to this episode to learn more about Teachaholic: The 7-Day MindSET Shift to Conquer Burnout, Build Life-Changing Boundaries, and Reignite Your Love for Teaching, available on Amazon Wednesday, October 8!

If you want to get a head start on the book, download the 20+ page Teachaholic Action Guide to begin your journey back from burnout here. You'll receive reflection questions, graphic organizers, and guidance to help you put the information from Teachaholic into immediate use.

You can learn more about the book Teachaholic  at www.erinsponaugle.com/book

Get your copy of Teachaholic: The 7-Day MindSET Shift to Conquer Burnout, Build Life-Changing Boundaries, and Reignite Your Love for Teaching at www.erinsponaugle.com/book.

You can download the Teachaholic Action Guide to begin your journey back from burnout here.

Download your FREE checklist, The Great 88: Rules, Routines, and Expectations to Go Over and Over, and feel confident establishing classroom management.

For more resources on classroom management, time management, and preserving mental well-being to avoid teacher burnout, visit www.erinsponaugle.com.

Find more upper elementary classroom resources by visiting Next Chapter Press on Teachers Pay Teachers.

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Transcript

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The teacher isn't what it used to be. The good news is, you don't have to figure it out on your own. If you're looking for truth, inspiration, and tips for success in the classroom and beyond, you're in the right place. It's time to turn the page to the future of the profession. This is the next chapter for teachers podcast. Hello everyone, I'm Erin Spinagle. This is episode 32, season four of the next chapter for teachers podcast. So it is three days to book launch of Teach a Holic, my book that is coming out Wednesday, October 8th. I'm a little excited. I'm very nervous. And I hope it's going to be something that helps teachers during this upcoming busy season. Because as we all know, it is pumpkin spice season and it's spooky season and it's kids are going to go crazy because the sugar is about to hit season. But for teachers, this is disillusionment season when everything seems to be coming at you full force in the classroom. So if you are feeling like this school year is not going according to plan or as you had hoped, well, that would be normal. This is usually the time of the year, right around October, where you start to realize that things are not going to be as they should be. Your workload is growing, things just seem to get piled on, nothing is getting taken away. October is also the month where the behaviors from our students tend to be a little more interesting. It becomes uh almost like a who's it going to be today that has um something happen or does something that you wouldn't expect. Like I said, this is a fun month with Halloween along the uh around the corner. So uh yeah, we are on our toes there. But in addition to that, this is also when things like data collection, testing, preparing for testing, progress monitoring, all of those things start to get into a rhythm as well. And you're keeping track of that. You want to be a good teacher, you want to do right by your students, but the intensity of it all just starts to feel too much. And all of those things very slowly just start to suck the joy out of being a teacher. That doesn't mean there isn't a way to have joy as a teacher, it just means it becomes extremely hard by about this time when everything is starting to get into play. Not only that, there are things that we are contending with personally on the inside. I should do this, I must do this, I can't say no to this. And all of that guilt and all of those expectations that other people put on us and that we put on ourselves really starts to weigh us down. You know, we want to do good for our students, we want to be the best teacher we possibly can. People think that teachers go into teaching because they want those summers off. We know that's not the case. We know that we're there because we genuinely want to be there for the kids. And we want to make an impact, we're gonna make an impact on the world that's going to leave a legacy and going to do good things for other people. But there are a lot of things that get in the way of that, because we're human beings and we're expected to be superhuman. So by this time of the year, we start to feel that we just can't keep up. It's like running a race that you're never going to win. Because there are so many things that are for sure out of your control, decisions that are made that you have zero input in. And you might be already thinking at this point, should I quit teaching? Is that the only way out of this? Because I know this isn't the first year you felt this way. You probably felt that the year before, the year before that. And if you're a new teacher, maybe you're wondering, what did you get yourself into? That nothing in your student teaching or your teacher prep prepared you for this craziness. And if you feel that way, that's okay. You're you're on you're on track. That's about that's pretty accurate. So I'm coming to you with this question today. The question that you have probably thought at least once or twice, if not more, in your career should I quit teaching? Is that the only way out of this crazy cycle? Getting away from all the expectations, all of the workload, all of the things that I have to get done that I never get to during the day, and all the things that I want to do or feel that would be good to do, but there's just no way in this teaching season or this teaching climate that I'll ever get a chance to do them. Do you just feel hopeless and feel like the only way to get away from this is if you just quit teaching and move on to something else? So that's a question that I cannot answer for you. Uh, because I truly believe that you've got to honor what's best for yourself, whoever you are, whatever you need. And if you truly do feel that quitting teaching or leaving the profession is not for you, then that is a choice that should be respected. But I want you to think about it before you quit teaching, I think there's a lot to think about because you might just be a teacheholic. And if you're a teachah, maybe you're meant to be in the classroom, you're meant to work with kids, you are destined to have an impact on kids and their futures and teaching them, but it's got to come around in a different way, and you have to have a different mindset about it if you're going to survive in the classroom. So you got to start thinking about how you're gonna think about yourself, and that sounds a little kind of thinking about your thinking, a little metacognition there, but hear me out. If you feel like you have to do it all the time, if you say yes to everything because that's what you think a good teacher would do, you just agree to go along with everything, do whatever it is, even if you really don't feel like that's what you should be doing, if you work yourself to exhaustion, even when your body says, Hey, I need a break, or your you know on the inside that you have reached your breaking point. If you put your own needs last consistently all the time, you might be a teacherholic. And if that's the case, if that sounded like you, it's okay. There's hope for you. There's a way out, there's a way to think about things and approach things differently so that you can thrive in the classroom and you can be happy there without having to do a complete about face and get a career change. Not that if you need to do that or you choose to do that, it's a bad thing. But it may not be the only solution, quitting teaching. So I have with me today my author copy of Teach Aholic. I'm holding it in my hands right now. It's actually kind of exciting to have it here and to see it. And I I just I don't know what to to say at this point, except that it's it's alive and it's real and it's happening Wednesday. But what exactly is a teach a holic? If I had to define Teach Aholic for you, this is what I would define it as. It's a teacher that's very dedicated, that truly cares and wants to have an impact on students, and you're very well meaning, but uh you don't put yourself first ever, you put your teaching uh obligations first, and it consumes so much of your life that it starts to become your entire identity and your entire life revolves around it. It's just like the fast track to burnout. And I think that there are a lot of teachers that are in teach a holic mode because that's what we're we've been conditioned to think is good and normal and expected of us, but the problem is that it's not sustainable. We're seeing that with teacher retention rates, we're seeing that with the um overall morale in schools, what we expect and what of ourselves and what's expected of us is not going to sustain the teaching profession in the future. And I'm going to read you a little quote from the book from my book that you know I know that there are so many things that we have no control over that get dumped on us every year, but sometimes, here's the quote sometimes change doesn't start with the source of the problem. Sometimes it starts with us. Sometimes change starts with somebody who's impacted by it just doing better for themselves. And that's what we have to start doing as teachers. It doesn't mean that we're not going to be good teachers, it doesn't mean that we're not going to come to school and want to do what's right for kids and fulfill our duties as our educators, but it does mean we're going to think about it in a more healthy manner so that we can continue in the profession and we can model for others how to do this job. Because if we don't start doing better for ourselves, this is what's going to happen. You know, kids aren't going to have good teachers. They're not going to have the people that can do the good things to help them learn and help them become the people they need to be, or they're not going to get the quality people in the classrooms that are able to do that. But not only that, you know, the future of education is in our classrooms because kids see teachers every day. It's the one profession that they get to see up close every day of their childhood. And they're thinking right now if teaching is going to be something that they want to do as an adult. And if they see teachers that are leaving, burnt out, tired, to the point where they're not just tired, yawing, but just like completely fatigued, that's not going to be a profession that they choose to pursue. And I know there are a lot of, you hear a lot about that, grow your own teacher programs, and that's great, but still, even if you grow your own teachers, they gotta want to stay in the soil where you plant them. So I do think that there still has to be consideration to what our kids are seeing teachers being impacted by in the classroom because they are deciding right now if they want to be teachers too. There are kids out there right now that are thinking, I want to be a teacher, but maybe I don't want to be up till two in the morning writing papers, or I want to be a teacher, but maybe my teacher always looks really sad and tired. And I don't know if I want to be sad and tired all the time. That's a that's a normal thing to think, or that's a a thing that I would think as a child if I saw my teacher that was worn out and frazzled. And it's not your fault that they feel that way, it's the system. But we kind of have to go against the system and start doing what's right for us. And that sounds scary, but it's really not, because I think I'm doing it okay. At least I think I'm doing okay. I mean, I like what I'm doing, I love teaching, and I love where I'm at in my life right now. But I didn't get there overnight, and it's been a long time coming. And I want to, through Teach a Holic, help other teachers not go through what I went through. I want to be to them what I needed about eight, nine years ago. So let me give you another quote from the book that I think is really important and really impactful. Nothing gets better until you are ready to save yourself and you are worth saving. So if you are feeling disillusioned, if you are feeling like there is no way out and that you need to quit teaching because that's the only only way to escape this craziness, I want you to know that there is a there's hope and there's a way out. There's a way of thinking about things differently and approaching things differently. And it may not be easy and it may have some hiccups, but it's going to be worth it because you'll be happier and you'll get your joy for teaching back, hopefully. Because we need you, and you need to be doing the things that you feel that you were meant to do in your life. So, what else will you find in Teach a Holog? I'll go to the table of contents right now. It's looking looking back through all this stuff, and I think, oh my goodness, I wrote all this. This all came out of me. So you can read this book in seven days. That's how it is designed. It is not a long book, it's meant to be written or to be read concisely and quickly because I want you to put these steps into action because you deserve to have some peace and happiness. So we start out with the setup. You know, why are you this way? What are the think traps that teachers fall into that get them to this place where they are in on the brink of burnout? Then day two, how do we fix it? So, how do we reset and change when we're in this season of disillusionment or when we're almost to ready to quit, when we're burnout? How do we fix this? Uh, day three, we get into a mindset for how we're going to approach setting um boundaries, goals, priorities. Boundaries come up a lot in here, and boundaries can be kind of a scary thing to set, but you know what? They are worth it. We're gonna talk about social media. Whether you are on social media or not, you are impacted by it. Even if you, oh, I don't have a Facebook, I don't do Insta or my tech doesn't talk. I'm you at some point you've probably been on Pinterest or YouTube or something that is influenced by an influencer, and it impacts how you teach or how you feel about teaching more than more than that. Um then we're gonna talk about when you upset people because it's gonna happen. Not everybody is gonna be on the same page as you, either they're not gonna be the same page as teaching a hollock as you, or they're just not gonna be ready to make these changes yet. And you're gonna have people that are not gonna be happy when you start changing things. And then day six is about setbacks, because setbacks do happen. I can even say that I had a setback last year that you'll have to read the book to find out all about that, but I even had a setback when I in my teacherholic recovery, and then how to be set for life, which is a lot about how we're gonna take care of ourselves and maintain this into the future. So that's what I'm hoping to share with you, and what I'm hoping is going to make an impact on your teaching career and your life so that you can be happy, you can enjoy teaching, and you can have a healthier relationship with your teaching profession so that you can continue it and you can pursue the things that bring you joy, so your life doesn't have to revolve around everything that happens in the classroom because we are the answer friends. We can't solve all the problems, but uh how we model or how we approach teaching is going to change the narrative. If we think about things differently, if we approach things differently, if we stick up for ourselves and we take care of ourselves, it can be the first ripple in a big effect. So I believe in you, and I believe that you are worth saving, and that's why we have to make changes for teaching, for ourselves, and ultimately who that impacts in the end are our students and their futures. So, October 8th, three days, Wednesday, the book will be available on Amazon. It will be just 99 cents on Kindle because I want to get this in as many hands of teachers as possible because that's how people start getting help, having access. So I'm looking forward to sharing that with you. If you want to go ahead and get a head start, you can download the Peach a Hall Look Action Guide at aarenspinagle.com/slash book. It is reflection questions and some graphic organizers and guidance that goes along with each chapter of the book so that you're not just reading the pages, you have a way to organize your thoughts and think about the things that go on in your life because I want you to be able to put the things in the book into practice. So I hope you have a good week. I hope you are ready for Wednesday. I sure am. I'm just ready for it to be over with because I'm it's kind of like Christmas. It really is. It's kind of like that Christmas feeling, like I've got, you know, I've got something to share and a gift to give to you. So I hope you enjoy it, and remember, you are the answer, my friend, because you make a difference. I'll talk to you next time. That's all for this episode of the Next Chapter for Teachers podcast. If you'd like what you heard, be sure to rate, subscribe, and leave a review. Join us next time we turn the page to the future of the profession. Until then, remember to be different, but more importantly, be the difference. And I'll see you in the next chapter.