Banish Burnout: Make a Plan
In a recent call with the Beyond the Classroom course students, one teacher shared how she was dreading heading back to the classroom next year. She was feeling burned out from teaching and wanted a more flexible non-teaching job in education, but needed time to build up the education consulting business she dreamed about starting. She wanted to prevent teacher burnout as much as possible, but wasn’t sure what to do.
Luckily, making a plan for growing her business helped her to develop a clear and attainable path for transitioning out of the classroom. Though she wasn’t able to quit her teaching job immediately, having a clear plan helped her to see that she could build her dreams while still finishing up the teaching chapter of her life.
Making a plan is one of the best ways to prevent teacher burnout. Even if you’re already experiencing burnout, making a plan can help. While you can’t snap your fingers and instantly have relief from burnout, you can think deeply about what you want, then plan exactly how you will get there. Just the act of having a plan and taking action can help you to feel less burned out.
Of course, plans never work out exactly as we expect them to, but that’s okay! Plans help to keep us on track and see what’s possible as we build our futures. Any bumps or detours that we experience along the way can be welcomed learning opportunities. Follow these steps to plan your way out of teacher burnout:
How To Prevent Teacher Burnout By Making a Plan
Dream Big
What do you want? Do you want to change careers from teaching? Do you want to start an education business or work as an education writer?
One of the best ways to prevent teacher burnout is to let yourself journal, daydream, or talk about your big dreams. If you’re not sure what you want, allow yourself to consider different options. Imagine where you would like to be in a month, a year, or five years. What would your dream life be like? What would your job be? How would you spend your days?
Really take time to get clear on what you want, the kind of impact you want to have, and how you can use your unique skills and talents in one of the many non-teaching jobs in education.
For example, you might love working with other teachers. Perhaps in one year you want to be an instructional coach, helping new teachers to develop their crafts. Or maybe you really want to have a more creative life and spend more time writing. In a month, you could imagine yourself writing articles, curriculum, or stories. Let yourself run free with your hopes and desires. Document your ideas so you can refer back to them as you continue to build your dreams.
Backwards Plan To Prevent Teacher Burnout
Now that you have a clear picture of what you’re after, it’s time to make a plan. This is the key step toward learning how to avoid teacher burnout. To do this, we can use some of the same strategies that we use when planning lessons or units.
Think about where you want to be in six months (or whatever time frame you chose). What will you need to do to get there? Are there certain skills you need to learn or certain milestones you need to achieve? Write down everything that needs to happen for you to achieve your goals.
Now that you have a time frame and goals, you can plan out the specific steps you’ll need to take. Think about these steps as sub-goals, then develop those sub-goals into action steps. If you dream of finding work as an instructional coach, for example, you might have the following sub-goals and action steps:
Sub-goal: Sign up for a student teacher so that you can practice mentoring and supporting a new teacher
Action step: Look into how to get a student teacher
Action step: Contact universities to see if they can place a student teacher in your class.
Sub-goal: Inquire into coaching opportunities within your district
Action step: Ask your administrator
Action step: Ask coaches about the path they took
Sub-goal: Read books about coaching and build your skillset
Action step: Research different books
Action step: Obtain and read the books
Sub-goal: Research organizations that you can partner with to provide coaching
Action step: Research online coaching opportunities and keep a running list
Action step: Research local coaching opportunities and keep a running list
Take each sub-goal and give yourself due dates. For example, maybe you will look into getting a student teacher by mid-August, then inquire about coaching opportunities by mid-September. Calendar time to make progress towards your goals, celebrating the action you’re putting into reaching your goals.
When you break big goals into small action steps, you can help prevent teacher burnout (or overcome it if you’re already there).
Take Small Steps Forward
Even just spending a few minutes a day (or even a few minutes a week!) can help you to stay motivated and on track. Remind yourself of the bigger goals you’re working towards and take small steps towards them.
This can be hard when you’re teaching full-time, but though working towards your goals may seem like “extra” work, you’ll likely find that this work is invigorating instead of draining. Even if you’re not in your ideal role right now, knowing that you’re building your future with intention can help you to feel fulfilled.
Get Help to Prevent Teacher Burnout
If you’re exploring how to deal with teacher burnout, making a plan could be a great step toward achieving your goal of a more balanced, flexible life. But you don’t have to go it alone!
If you’re serious about finding education careers other than teaching and want to work to prevent teacher burnout for good, then it’s time to explore our Beyond The Classroom course.
Learn how to start your own education business, land other jobs for teachers outside of the classroom and have an even bigger impact on students and teachers. Click here to register for the Beyond The Classroom now.