Burnout. You hear about it all the time. Tired of restrictions on public education. Tired of testing. Tired of same old, same old. Tired of feeling ‘stuck.’ But, there is a cure for burnout. No matter what, if you feel stuck, bored, or just plain like teaching’s lost it’s luster for you? There’s a way to fix that.
Connect.
Team Kennedy: Inspiration, alive and breathing.
I just drove back from the airport, after 9 days spent with 5 of my teammates that I met in Huntsville last summer. Our little team of 5 teachers from four states all around the US? We collaborated. Google Hangouts, email, Google Docs, Facebook messages, and so much more. Being part of a team? It’s empowering. It reminds you that you have strengths and weaknesses. It reminds you to rely on other people. It reaches that little part in your brain that says you don’t have to do it all alone. That little part that sometimes gets magnified in your school, when you start to feel like it’s just you, and your kids, and those connections are lost in the daily shuffle. Because if we allow ourselves, as teachers, we can get backed into a corner where our focus gets so far away from learning, we can’t see the way out.
Through all of the experiences I’ve had over the past couple of years, I’ve never realized there was a point where I was feeling ‘stuck.’ But there was. I had some people who woke me up, met this team who reminded me to keep on learning, and here I am.
Team Kennedy may have left today, but their inspiration? It’s with me always. I know that no matter where they are, they are there. Whether we message, Skype, tweet, or send an email, we are connected. Not just because of an incredible experience we shared, but because of the insatiable desire we all seem to have for learning. It’s what’s connected us, around the world, and keeps the flame burning.
Burnout is real. It can happen to anyone. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but it’s not something to ignore. The connections we make are what keep our love of learning alive, through anything. Through our darkest days in teaching, there are people who will be our light. There are also days when we can be the light for someone else.
Some may say that weightlessness would be the cure for burnout, but it’s these people I shared it with. Four lights who flew out of this city in separate directions, with a similar goal: To keep learning alive within us all, not just for ourselves, but for our students past, present, and future. Afterall, that’s just what connecting is all about.
