Before I get blasted let me say this….I love my job. The people I work with, the kids, and the subjects. I have the ability to loop with some of my kiddos for 3 years and see all 6th and 7th graders in a technology class.
About Thanksgiving break I started to have a different feeling. I wasn’t waking up before my alarm, I was bored and loosing interest. I had the same feeling when I got to about year 10. At that point I was a self-contained emotionally disturbed/behavioral disorder teacher, my bestie had gotten a new job at the high school and I wanted to change subject areas. My administration at the time did not think that was a wise choice as I was pregnant. I found myself another job. But this time the feeling isn’t going away.
In the time leading up to winter break, I made sure to plan some fun things not only for my students but for myself. We started listening to a podcast and audio book in my reading classes, my iPad classes were creating videos and my English classes were working on speeches. I started planning on what to bring on my vacation. I have always enjoyed breaks for thinking of new ideas, changes to my classroom, how to better reach my students. I typically missed my students. This year the feeling is different. I started quietly saying the words “I think I am burning out and done with education.” Before leaving on break I made the decision to leave my laptops at school. Not once during my break did I open my school iPad to plan, grade papers or even check in with my twitter feed/support network. And I do not regret my decision one bit. I am at the point where I don’t know how to get over this hump. How do you get over your burnout hump?
I think I know what it causing this feeling….there will be some big changes next year and I worry about how those will affect my job but more importantly my students. I’m worried that there will not be the tech support that I have grown accustomed to (or that some will fall on me in addition to what I am already doing.) And I am already dreading the group that I would potentially get.
Now that it is the new year, make sure you are checking in on the teachers that have been doing this awhile. We tend to check on the ones that are new but I think we need to check on the ones that have been doing this awhile to make sure they are getting the changes they need and taking care of themselves. As for me….I will continue finding things that are new and exciting to me, find time to focus on myself/family but also reconnect with those around me.
Stories of SpedTech 