Dear, we are teachers.
I teach high school English and I can feel how much energy I have this year. My students are anxious, withdrawn, irritable – some have been open to severe mental health struggles. I will try my best to stay supportive, but I am not a counselor and I don’t want to say the wrong words. At the same time, I can’t ignore it. I can’t teach half of the room to check emotionally. How do I show up in a real way without burning myself, or crossing lines that I shouldn’t be?
– SEL does not cut it
Dear Seinchi,
First: I’m glad you didn’t try to play the role of a counselor. Too many schools did everything but formally asked the teacher. You should not expect to play this role, which is not safe for you or your students if you try. But, you are a trustworthy adult in your life, which is more than you might realize.
I think the most important thing is to understand your recommended path. The process of knowing exactly how your school is the process of connecting students to counselors, social workers, or external resources. If you are unsure, ask your counselor directly.
You can also build on micro-musics that help students take care of themselves. Here, we did not have a major class to take the therapy course. Sometimes it’s better than two minutes of free writing (we have a fabulous mindfulness diary here), try some new breathing exercises, or stop for fun brain breaks when the room feels nervous.
Finally – Protect your own bandwidth. You can’t pour it from an empty coffee cup (your cold coffee was poured in a few hours ago). Full of compassion, but remember: Being a stable and stable presence is already a gift. That’s enough.
Dear advise team,
Technically, my school has an A/C, but because of the “energy saving timeline” (perhaps an unfortunate location in my classroom), there is almost no feeling. They played the air just before the students arrived and closed it 45 minutes before the fire. This may be suitable for kids who leave on the bell, but for a teacher who is early or late, it’s like working in a sauna. By the third phase, I had sweated through my shirt and after school, I felt like I was rating it with a literal sauna. Do you have a skill to survive this calories or should I have the administrator involved?
– Arranged and underestimated
Dear OAU,
Ah, yes. I’ve been to several schools like this. Remind me of Shakespeare Line: Oh, savage thrift, saved a penny, but killed the mentor’s comfort!
(Shakespeare didn’t say that, but it doesn’t sound like him?!)
This is one of the “choose your own adventure” situations. Depending on your level of comfort, I suggest you hire some extra benefits, pursue systematic advocacy, or both.
Personal hacker
- A small table fan
- Cooling necklace or personal cooling fan
- Use spare shirt and mini deodorant to change and retouch on hand as needed
Systematic advocacy
- Measure the temperature of the room. If it exceeds 76 degrees Fahrenheit, the recommendations of OSHA are not included. You can learn more about OSHA’s indoor air quality guide here.
- It may be worth checking with a doctor to see if hormone imbalances can make things worse. If you have certain health conditions, your doctor may write to you to teach from the stove.
- Submit it to the administrator, “My students are working hard to focus and I’m worried that this will affect the guidance.” It’s hard to delete.
- If everything else fails, find your biggest, most connected parents and apologize for the stuffy temperatures of Johnny’s classroom. Start the stopwatch to resolve the situation at a speed.
If you want to be Very Cheeky, you might have someone checking the temperature of the management building. Then, remind them of the old Shakespeare line: Don’t the board feel coking, or is their office expressing it with sweeter wind?
(Just kidding again. I’m scrolling, though.)
Dear, we are teachers.
After spending many years at Waldorf Assistant School, I just started teaching in a large public primary school in a large public primary school. The cultural impact is real. The pace was so fast that I felt like I had whipping, I had little time to get to know my third graders, and I noticed more time on the screen (Chiromet Book, Smart Board, Digital Assessment, you can name it). I miss the slow pace of the old school, and I am worried about burning before the winter vacation. How do I adjust what I used to love teaching without losing?
– My knitting needles
Dear mmkn,
The beginning of the year was a whip for every teacher – I could not imagine working in a school with a completely different educational philosophy would bring an additional shock.
Bad news: It won’t disappear overnight.
Good news: So to say, you don’t have to throw your baby out with bath water when you’re in a new environment. Look at it this way: You have a great opportunity to bring the old teaching style into the new classroom.
My top three suggestions:
- Remember: The beginning of the year is particularly chaotic. Don’t look at what’s happening now in the way you are now. You will adjust + return to paperwork to meet somewhere.
- Find ways to integrate. Rather than fighting in an overall way, consider ways to blend them. For example, have students use digital tools such as audio recording applications or simple video editors to create their own myths or allegories and then share them loudly.
- Build a very short moment. Even in a fast-paced school, you can pause reflection, ask open-ended questions, or read the course in the last five minutes of the classroom. Those little Waldorf touches are important.
The transition is tiring. This does not mean you fail, it means you are human. By winter break, you will have a rhythm (and maybe even a colleague secretly crocheted under a table under a staff meeting).
Do you have a burning problem? Send us an email at AskWeareTeachers@weareteachers.com.
Dear, we are teachers.
I am a teacher with solid classroom management skills, at least I used to be. This year, my fifth grader is in a low-level interruption: side chat, blur, phone sneaky, generally uneasy. There wasn’t something big enough to write a recommendation, but enough to make every class feel like I was just giving up on the chaos. I tried approaching, calling home, and even reworking my seat map twice. The worst part? I feel like I spent all my energy being “strict” and it’s not me, it’s very tired. How do I manage without losing my mind or becoming a teacher I swear I will never be?
– Stand (almost)
