My Experience with Teacher Burnout (And How to Avoid It) - Ruth Anna Kuhns

So we all know what it feels like to feel overwhelmed or tired, okay? So that's not burnout necessarily. Burnout is like an emotional exhaustion where sleeping doesn't take care of it. Even the hobbies that you do to, you know, re-energize yourself, you might not even want to do hobbies.

You feel like you have nothing to offer anyone—students, parents, community. Maybe you even actually find yourself avoiding parents or students, kind of like, "I don't want to talk to anyone. Just let me go to bed forever and pull the covers over my head and never emerge."

In this episode, Ruth Anacun's comments on burnout among school teachers. We expect that some of the things she says may sound strange to some of our audience. As you listen, understand this as a focus on the experience of school teachers in conservative Mennonite schools. Many conservative Mennonite churches have their own schools that serve the children of member families. These schools are often very small and function differently and have a much smaller budget than is typical throughout the public schools of North America.

Though this is an inside look, we expect that much of what she says will be applicable to those who work in large schools, public or otherwise. Okay, now on to the episode. Ruth Anna, so you've worked in education for a while, right? And, uh, you know, you—we had been talking on the phone before, kind of, okay, what should we have on the podcast and what topics? And you had mentioned you went through a period of prolonged burnout because, you know, as a teacher, and you know, you had to take a break. And that made me really start thinking about, well, obviously what your story might be with that, but also issues around teacher sustainability. Like, it seems like there's a lot of turnover, and this is something that, yeah, I've heard from a lot of places that this is a thing.

Uh, and so I'd like to, yeah, maybe start with that and, um, see if there's some lessons here for our audience, right? So if, if it's all right, let's just start with your experience with burnout as a teacher. Just kind of the rundown. What happened and what was that like? So there's, there's, um, multiple layers to the question of burnout. Um, and I will talk about my experience. I know that my experience isn't necessarily everyone's experience, but I think there are definitely themes throughout. So as I reflect on my experience as an educator, so I taught for five years, and then I really wanted a broader, um, base to pull from. I was realizing some of the needs that are out there.

And so I went to Faith Builders for two years and did their teacher apprenticeship program, which was very helpful. Um, after graduation, I came back and, um, taught for a period of another nine years and had a lot of good experiences there. But during the last year that I was working there as a homeroom teacher, um, that's when the—that's when, as I look back, that's really when the the burnout piece kicked in. Um, and one piece of it for me was unresolved trauma. I come from a really dark past with, um, yeah, lots of abuse and neglect. And I hadn't really had a safe place to process that. And so as it—as it started, you know, as I started having flashbacks and nightmares and all of this, I just was like, not sure what was going on.

Um, and so toward the end of that year, my principal said to me, "Well, Ruth Anna, would you consider taking a year off?" And that was a completely new question for me. I—it shows you how much I was surviving because I did not even have the mental space to think, "Well, is there another option here?" So that one year turned into four years off. Um, and there were a lot of good things that happened during those four years. It was also really hard because, um, I didn't feel like I had the emotional energy to continue teaching and doing, um, the work of trauma therapy. And so I did some really intense trauma therapy for a few years.

Um, and that helped to—helped to resolve that piece of trauma. I still deal with PTSD. PTSD stands for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Um, I still deal with flashbacks and nightmares, but, um, I've learned how—how—how to cope with it. And so there's a really redemptive ending to that story. So that's—that's like one piece of my story with burnout. The other piece is, as I look back and reflect, is everything that was on my plate as a teacher. When I start—when I started listing, um, all the things that I was involved in, I kind of went, "Wait, this is making me tired just listing it all."

Oh, that's not a good sign. Exactly. And I think in the moment, I don't think I knew that it was okay to ask for help. I was thinking, "Okay, well, yeah, I'm a teacher. This is just what teachers do. They just, you know, do the next thing." Um, and, you know, teach classes that they don't enjoy, but you do it because while you're the one that can. Um, yeah. So I would say just like, like a really heavy workload also led to finally my body saying, "I can't do this anymore." Mm-hmm.

And so that was really devastating because, you know, I'm that kid who was like, decided in first grade that I wanted to be a teacher. Oh, wow. And so this is like my lifelong dream. And suddenly at the end of that school year, um, I—thankfully the school board released me from my, um, commitment for the—for the next year. I had already committed to teaching for next year. They released me from my contract if that could help with—with my healing process.

So that's some of the pieces from your own story. And let's broaden it out a bit. What are some of the things that lead to burnout in teachers? Just in general, like, I'm sure you've noticed some common threads here, right? Uh, over the years. Yeah, list some of those. That is a great question. Okay. So I think to help us understand, um, to help us understand this, let's think a little bit about a teacher who is in your, you know, typical school, small school, maybe 60 to 70 students, um, or it could be smaller schools, 20 to 30. And let's think about some of the things that they might be involved in. Okay. So it's very possible that they're teaching multiple grades.

All right. So let's say if you—if you're teaching three grades and you might have nine students, okay, but that's still three math lessons to prep for, three language lessons. Mm-hmm. You know, and if you're—if you're not combining classes, maybe three science, three history, like it just gets to be a lot of prep.

Um, it's possible that they're teaching all of their classes. So even music, art, Bible. Um, they might be doing all of the recess duty with their students. They might not have a lot of downtime during the day. I know for me, sometimes I just need 10 minutes to breathe so I can actually be present with my students. Um, and on top of that, let's say the school day ends at three. They might have two to three hours of grading after that. I know I talked to one of my friends, um, who said, "I sat down at three o'clock and I said, now my second day starts." And, you know, three hours of grading. Well, when do you have time for prep?

Um, oh, no, I'm not done yet. This is only just—this is just the beginning. They may be planning all of all of the field trips for, um, their classes. They may be planning all the class parties. They might be prepping programs, both fall and spring. Perhaps they're even working some in administration. So you have your own homeroom, but then you're—you're like the elementary education principal yet as well. So then you're expected to be the expert, um, in any learning disability. Okay. So again, that's a whole subject on its own. Um, they might be arranging chapel speakers, answering phones, communicating about transportation differences, car rides, bus rides. Um, they're teaching children to read. Somewhere they're supposed to do lesson prep.

Um, and again, if they have a couple years of experience, they might be training in new teachers. And then you're supposed to have energy to come up with like amazing ideas for like community week or missions week. Do you get the feeling? It's just a lot going on. Fragmentation is the word that comes to mind. Absolutely. Yeah.

Can we just back up a bit, define that? Like, what do we mean when we're, you know, we have burnout, but then again, I'm thinking specifically for the teachers themselves. Right, right. Okay. So yeah, let me define that a little bit. Um, so we all know what it feels like to feel overwhelmed or tired. Okay. So that's not burnout necessarily. Burnout is like an emotional exhaustion where sleeping doesn't take care of it. Even the hobbies that you do to, you know, re-energize yourself, you might not even want to do hobbies. Okay. That's—that's one example. Um, you feel like you have nothing to offer anyone, students, parents, community. Um, maybe you even actually find yourself avoiding parents or students.

Kind of like, "I don't want to talk to anyone. Just let me go to bed forever and pull the covers over my head and never emerge." Okay. Um, you may have felt like you just kind of lost your vision for teaching. Like, the spark is gone. Right. Yeah. There's like the joy factor is just—is—is gone. Um, and when you encounter a problem, it can feel like almost like you're paralyzed. Like, "I can't even troubleshoot this. I don't know. I don't know how to think creatively about how to solve this." You see how that is different from—from just being tired. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so yeah, some of these thoughts I am—I am drawing from a presentation that I listened to.

Um, Arlen Knisely was presenting to experienced teachers. And, um, he talked about burnout and defined some of these things. And it really connected with me because burnout is real. And I think—I think the key to burnout is rest. Mm-hmm. That doesn't mean that you're inactive, but it is—it is a creation principle in scripture.

Yeah. You know? And so if you're working seven days a week, like that's not what we've been created to do. So I think we've got to be really intentional about taking time, um, taking time off and, you know, doing—doing self-care types of things. Um, one of the ways that I think about avoiding burnout sometimes is at the end of the week, I will think, "Okay, what did I do this week that was not absolutely necessary for survival?"

I like that. That's good. Yes. Mm-hmm. So there are, I think, different layers to burnout. Um, I described—I just described the workload of perhaps your typical teacher in a typical school. So I think workload can lead to burnout. Um, sometimes it's lack of support. Mm-hmm. I know it can—as a homeroom teacher, it can feel difficult to get the support that you need if your principal is also a homeroom teacher or the administration, they also have a homeroom. And so if you have an issue, let's say during the day, um, you know, and you go to them for help, well, then you're disrupting their classroom. And so, like, there's just—when—when there's not enough of adults to take care of the children, that—that lack of support can be pretty key.

Um, and I think also lack of self-care, um, not taking time to do my hobbies, you know, hunting or—but hunting is not my hobby. But, you know, I'm thinking like hunting, fishing, um, going on hikes or trips, travel, volleyball. Like those things are important. That helps sustainability. Um, and I think another piece to burnout is when we constantly exceed our limits.

Hmm. Mm-hmm. So those are a few factors as I was thinking about the whole issue of burnout. Um, I think those are some factors that—that cause burnout. Mm-hmm. So I don't work in the education space at all. So, you know, I mean, but just looking from the outside in, it seems like there's a lot of teacher turnover and some issues with sustainability, right? If we're constant staff turnover, you know, something's happening there. Uh, so how can our communities help make this whole situation more sustainable? And when I say that, I'm thinking specifically for the teachers themselves. Maybe there's other elements to consider, but let's—let's stay focused on that. Mm-hmm. How can our communities get involved?

Yes. Okay. So one thing I would say initially is, um, make sure your teachers have enough help. And immediately that's going to what some of you are thinking is, well, we don't have the budget for that. All right, folks. Exactly. We have got to get past the budget. Okay. But okay, why—why is it? I mean, this is just to the point where it's just pop culture almost that like underpaid, overworked defines a teacher. Like anywhere. And I'm not just saying in our Anabaptist schools. That just feels like a universal thing.

I don't really understand that. I've never understood that, but it becomes just almost assumed. Yes. Yes. But anyways. Right. Yeah. Right. So, you know, make sure they have enough of help. And I think what I'm going to do here is I'm going to describe my current school situation. Um, I feel like at my current school, I've been able to, um, have lots of spaces for healing because of some of the things that I've experienced. So a couple of things that are key for me at, um, my current school is I have lots of support from admin. So we do have a principal. We have a secretary. We also have an elementary director of education. And so I'm not in homeroom, but, you know, I'm in learning support.

But I know there are people that I can go to talk to throughout the school day, um, who aren't in homeroom. And, you know, if I need to just troubleshoot for 10 minutes, there's someone there to talk to. Um, at my school, they also have—we have a person who does all the art, teaches all the art, a person who teaches all the music. Um, and so that gives homeroom teachers some pockets of time throughout their day where they can just regroup a little bit.

There are teacher's aides that we have, um, and that can—they can help with with the grading piece. I think I mentioned the, you know, grading can take hours for some teachers. Um, so, you know, why aren't we hiring teacher's aides to help out with the grading? And even if you're, you know, if you're in a small school, I think we can still think creatively about these things. Um, you know, who can we—who can we ask to help us out? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Bringing more tangible pieces of support onto the scene. Is that—yes. A way of saying it? Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. Um, and there's also the financial piece. Let's face it. You know, okay. So I'm obviously going to be advocating for single women. Um, but, you know, let's say you have a 25-year-old single lady and you say, well, um, we're paying her well. She's making 20 grand a year. Mm-hmm. Um, okay. Well, is she going to be able to buy a house on that salary? I mean, would you want to live on that salary? Mm-hmm. You know? And so, like, like thinking about some of those things, like, is this—is this sustainable for her to do financially? I mean, it's really a shame when she says, you know what, if I went to Sheets, I could make double what I make here.

Mm-hmm. Like, do we care about investing in our teachers? And if we don't care, it's no wonder that we—we're—we're going through teachers like water, you know, with that—that amount of workload, we—we burn them right out. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You used a word there. I think that was important. Invest in the teachers. Yes. Right. Thinking—I mean, thinking of it as an investment, I guess. I like that way of framing it. Right. Mm-hmm. Right.

So we were talking about, okay, how can—how can we make things more sustainable and avoid some of these things with teacher turnover, for example? As people are listening to this, what is one thing they can do practically to help support teachers, to help with this situation, to get involved and to contribute? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That is such a good question. So yeah, let's just talk about some really practical things. Um, and I know from an educator perspective, these things mean so much to me. So this morning I walked into my classroom and there was an iced coffee, cold brew, caramel on my desk, ready to go. And I thought, this is the perfect way to begin my Friday.

And it was our director of elementary education just, you know, treating the teachers. Okay. That can seem like a really small thing, a coffee. It means so much. Like I've had in the past, I've had parents, you know, stop in and, you know, maybe they'll give me a coffee or a hot chocolate or something. It means so much. It means that we are—we're seen. And, um, that's—that's huge. So that's a really practical thing. Um, yeah, I think, you know, if your school has, um, an opportunity for room moms, like where a couple of moms can get together and let's say they will plan class parties or be responsible for, you know, planning field trips, um, that's a huge load off the homeroom teacher.

Um, you can ask, you know, your homeroom teachers like what their favorite food is and, you know, pack their lunch occasionally. It's these small acts of service that just go such a long way. And, you know, maybe you're one of those people who says, okay, um, what would it mean for me to show up at school, you know, once a week and have the teachers train me on recess duty? And then I'll be out, you know, supervising, supervising the children. And, you know, it's always a perk when, um, you know, especially in the younger grades, you know, their mom shows up and it's just, you know, that connection as well. And you—they might not realize like that 15 minutes gave me as a teacher like time to regroup.

I again had some time to breathe. I had some time to, um, you know, if I was dealing with a difficult student in the morning, um, some time to just like focus again on, okay, you know, what am I working with? And, you know, just kind of refocus, regroup, rethink. Um, because as educators, we really do want to be our best selves for our students. Mm-hmm.

That's—that's really neat. That's like, you know, little tangible ways of telling the teachers in your life that, hey, we see you, we appreciate you. Right. We're like, um, otherwise, I wonder, could it be this sense of, I'm here teaching these kids and I feel really alone and nobody notices and nobody sees me? Is there some of that? It could happen. That can be a very real struggle in teaching. And that really saddens me as well because like there's really something that gets lost, like in the school culture. If we are just in our own classrooms, we're just little kingdoms unto ourselves doing our own thing. Um, that—that—that hurts the school culture. But for—but as a teacher, um, that can feel really, really lonely as well.

Yeah. Wow. And so we need—we need community. We need support. We need parents. We need school boards. Um, and we need school boards and, um, administrators who are passionate about paying their teachers well so that they can actually live on what they make. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So as we look back over the material that we've covered in this, um, kind of bringing it all together, uh, is there anything else you would like to leave the audience with as—as we wrap this episode up? Mm-hmm. So I've given some—some tangible, um, things there as well, but never underestimate the power of praying for your teachers, um, principal, secretary, administrators. Um, that means so much to have a group of people who are really, um, bringing us before the Lord in prayer.

Um, because it is education and, um, working with students. It's—it's a big responsibility and it's not something that I take lightly. And so we do need—we need you. We need everyone to, um, yeah, help make this successful. Mm-hmm. Thanks so much for coming on and sharing and bringing your own personal experience and, yeah, giving us some pieces to work with here. I—I think there's going to be a lot here for listeners to, uh, they should take note of and—and maybe this will, uh, cause some changes and ways people can better—well, communities can come around and support schools and teachers better. So, yeah, I really appreciate this. Thank you for inviting me. I always love when I'm invited to speak about things that I'm passionate about.

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing today. Thank you. Thanks for listening to this episode with Ruth Anna. We did a two-part, uh, series with Joel Yoder on the topic of burnout, which I think you'll find interesting. You can find that linked down in the description below. We also publish regular monthly essays as well as a monthly email newsletter, and you can subscribe to both of those on our website at anabaptistperspectives.org. Thanks again, and we'll see you in the next episode.