0:01

Are you a teacher who's feeling stressed out and overwhelmed? Do you worry that you're feeling symptoms of burnout or are you sure you've already gotten there? Have you started to dream of doing some other kind of job or perhaps pursuing a whole different career, but you don't know what else you're even qualified to do? You don't know how to start a job search. You just feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you're not alone. My name is Kitty Boitnott. I'm a career transition and job search coach and I specialize in helping burnt out teachers just like you deal not only with the stress and overwhelm of your day-to-day job, but to consider what other careers might be out there waiting for you. Join me for "Teachers in Transition." In some episodes I'll be speaking to stress management techniques and how you can manage your stress on a day to day basis. In other episodes I'll be talking about career transition. What tools do you need to be successful in a job search when you're moving from one career into a totally different track? These are questions that you need answers to and I can help you find those answers. My name is Kitty Boitnott. Welcome to "Teachers in Transition." Welcome

1:27

back to Episode 44

1:29

of "Teachers in Transition." My

1:31

name is Kitty Boitnott, and I'm here

1:34

to talk about stress management

1:36

for teachers. Today. I

1:39

ran across an article just yesterday

1:41

that , uh , was

1:44

startling and yet not so much

1:46

, uh, there a study

1:48

that has revealed and now I'll offer

1:50

the link to the, to the article

1:53

in the show notes today and a

1:55

study that shows that 94%

1:59

of middle schoolers or middle school

2:01

teachers are experiencing

2:04

a high level of stress. And

2:07

my reaction to that

2:10

particular article was, well,

2:12

duh, because I know

2:14

that teachers are stressed and middle school teachers

2:16

may be more stressed than

2:20

elementary or some high school

2:22

teachers because middle school is such

2:24

a difficult time in the child's

2:26

life and that creates issues

2:29

for everybody around them. Uh

2:31

, frankly, and if you are familiar

2:34

at all with my story, I was

2:37

on track to return to a middle school

2:39

to teach English back in 2012

2:42

and I decided that I didn't have

2:45

what it took to deal with middle schoolers

2:47

at that time in my life. I had finished

2:50

up my four years as President

2:53

of the Virginia Education Association, and

2:56

I was exhausted on every level:

2:58

physically, mentally, emotionally.

3:00

I was just wr ung d

3:04

ry and I had taught sixth

3:06

grade and dealt with seventh and eighth graders

3:08

back in my twenties when I was assigned

3:11

to teach half-day language arts to

3:13

a group of sixth graders and to

3:16

be the assistant librarian

3:18

for the other half of the day where

3:21

I had to deal with this, th e s eventh and eighth

3:23

graders. And frankly,

3:26

it wasn't my cup of tea. I

3:28

do believe that middle school teachers

3:30

are a particular type

3:33

of angel and I've said

3:35

that to most of the ones that I've met over

3:37

the years. You deserve an extra set

3:39

of wings when you get

3:42

to he aven b ecause you

3:44

do have to have a particular

3:46

point of view or a certain kind of

3:48

humor. Um , a nd uh , u

3:50

h , l aid more a more laid back

3:52

approach to all

3:55

of the drama that the kids are bringing

3:57

into the classroom. Because

3:59

when you're in middle school, everything is

4:01

blown way out of proportion

4:04

just because that's the nature

4:07

of the life of a middle school where their

4:10

hormones have gone completely wacko.

4:12

They're all over the place emotionally.

4:16

They're still trying to figure out who the heck

4:18

they are. Uh , they're struggling

4:21

with their position with

4:23

their peers. Um , they're

4:25

some of being subjected to bullying

4:28

on a regular basis and others

4:31

are the bullies and

4:33

nobody's happy. And

4:35

just in general now that's broad

4:38

brush, very generalized.

4:40

I know, and it's not true for every

4:43

middle schooler that they are a little bit whacked

4:45

out, that a lot of them are

4:48

struggling. I know I did.

4:50

I remember my middle

4:52

school years that I wouldn't want to go back there for

4:54

any amount of money. And

4:58

I knew I didn't have what it took

5:00

to deal with all of that as a teacher

5:03

with no emotional

5:05

reserve, which is where I was

5:08

in the summer of 2012 , um,

5:11

no patients , no

5:13

physical stamina , uh,

5:16

just I I w ould h ave been

5:18

a complete flop. And

5:20

so I did for me what

5:22

was the only solution which was to take

5:24

early, early, early retirement.

5:27

But had I gone back, there is no doubt

5:30

in my mind I would have been part of the 94%

5:33

of middle school teachers who are feeling

5:36

an extreme level of stress.

5:40

Now here's the part that's

5:42

a little bit peeving

5:44

to me and that is that the, the

5:48

um, messaged in the article,

5:52

it's not as much concern about the

5:54

teachers who are feeling so much stress,

5:57

but the effect that the teachers

5:59

who have all that stress on them, the

6:01

effect that it's having on the students.

6:05

Now that's not unimportant. I'm not trying

6:07

to say that there isn't a

6:10

connection. There clearly is.

6:12

Part of the reason I didn't go back was that

6:14

I didn't think I would be effective

6:17

dealing with middle scores,

6:21

but it's a little , um,

6:25

I don't shortsighted I guess is the right

6:27

word for experts

6:29

who are identifying this extremely

6:32

alarmingly high level of stress

6:35

in middle school teachers and

6:37

to be more concerned

6:39

about the effect that that's going to have on the

6:41

students than on trying

6:43

to figure out ways to , to help

6:46

the teachers deal with their stress so

6:48

that they can bring their stress level

6:50

down. And

6:52

maybe I'm just being shortsighted

6:55

myself, but

6:58

the number that , the number

7:00

one issue should be what can we

7:02

do to reduce

7:05

or help teachers better

7:07

manage their stress

7:11

for themselves to help

7:13

them. And Oh , a happy

7:15

byproduct of that is that it also helps

7:18

the students, but

7:20

there's something wrong with the equation

7:22

that the concern

7:25

is that 94% of middle school

7:27

teachers are dealing with this high,

7:30

unusually high level of stress.

7:34

And Oh, woe is me. The problem

7:36

is the effect that that's having on the students.

7:39

I get that it's a chicken and egg kind

7:42

of relationship. But

7:44

I think the concern is misplaced,

7:48

not directed in the right

7:50

direction. Maybe that's

7:52

my bias. However speaking

7:55

because as someone who deals

7:58

with works with , uh

8:00

, is in communication with

8:02

teachers, not just middle school teachers,

8:04

but teachers across the spectrum,

8:07

elementary and high school

8:09

teachers as well as middle school teachers,

8:12

the sense of overwhelm

8:15

is almost

8:17

palpable. The

8:20

level of anxiety

8:22

that more and more teachers are feeling

8:24

because they're having trouble coping

8:27

with the workload that

8:29

they're being given. And

8:33

one of my pet peeves when I was, when

8:36

I was in education and then

8:38

as president of the Virginia education

8:40

association and even later

8:43

, uh, has been

8:46

that the policymakers and the politicians

8:50

who are responsible for

8:52

creating the policies

8:54

that are required to

8:56

abide by, they

8:59

are constantly putting more

9:01

and more of a burden on

9:04

teachers to do more, to accomplish

9:06

more, to uh,

9:09

to, to be more accountable

9:11

and every possible way. And

9:14

they never, ever,

9:17

ever think to take away

9:19

something. And

9:21

so the proverbial plate

9:23

of the teacher continues to get

9:25

more full and piled

9:28

up with more stuff to

9:30

do and not

9:32

enough hours to do it.

9:36

And it's, it's a problem.

9:39

It's a problem for everybody. It's if it's

9:41

a problem for the student because

9:43

the teacher is stressed out. Think

9:45

about what the problem for the teacher

9:47

is. You

9:49

know, a few years ago, I remember being so

9:52

appalled by the fact that school

9:54

divisions had created online

9:56

IEP programs for

9:59

their special education teachers

10:01

so that, aren't you lucky

10:03

now you can work on your IEP is from

10:05

home. And

10:07

the problem with that approach was,

10:10

yeah, okay. So it gave teachers

10:12

access to the IEP program

10:14

and they could work on it at home

10:16

if they wanted, but because

10:18

they were able to work on the IEP

10:21

at home, then the principals

10:23

started planning meetings. That

10:26

took up the teacher's time on work

10:28

days and

10:30

taking up more and more of the

10:32

after school hours with

10:34

meetings, sometimes meaningless

10:37

meetings. I

10:40

mean I , I know that there are the, there's

10:42

the occasion when you need to pull everybody

10:44

together and you need to have some kind of inservice

10:46

or seminar or training. I

10:49

get that. But

10:51

too often people

10:53

are having meetings just for the sake of

10:55

being able to say they're having the meeting

10:58

and it's wasting people's time.

11:01

It's not useful. It's not constructive.

11:04

It's not moving

11:06

anybody forward. It's just

11:09

we're having a meeting because we're required

11:11

to have a meeting. That's crazy.

11:16

Now, I don't know how to fix any of it. So

11:18

I mean I'm kind of on a rant today

11:20

because I don't know what to do

11:23

to fix it except

11:26

to offer that. If you are a teacher

11:28

who is feeling stress and I know,

11:31

I know from my own anecdotal experience

11:34

that teach stresses on the rise

11:36

because more and more people are downloading

11:39

the stress assessment that I offer.

11:41

I'll offer a link to the show notes.

11:43

I offer a stress assessment that

11:46

provides 32 questions. And

11:49

what I say in the assessment is if you

11:52

answer 10 or more of questions with a yes,

11:54

then you are overstressed and you need

11:56

to start taking step measures

11:59

to get your stress under control. Now,

12:03

you can't make stress go away, but

12:05

you can. You can do whatever

12:07

you need to do for yourself to manage

12:10

it. And

12:12

as I've said before, it starts

12:15

with self care and self care

12:17

is not selfish

12:19

. So if you've ever

12:21

been told that taking care of yourself

12:24

as somehow selfish,

12:26

get over, that is not true. That's

12:30

a guilt trip somebody laid on you for

12:33

whatever reason. Self

12:35

care is essential. It's

12:38

essential to your health. It's

12:40

essential to your peace of mind. It's

12:42

essential to your inner wellbeing.

12:47

If you don't take care of yourself

12:50

and you are experiencing an

12:52

overload of stress, it's

12:54

not a matter of if, it's a

12:56

matter of when you're going to be getting sick

13:00

and there are some illnesses

13:02

that are exacerbated. They can

13:04

be caused by stress, but they're

13:06

exacerbated by stress as well.

13:09

Diabetes being one, if you are stressed

13:11

out, you need to be checked. If you're already

13:13

diabetic, you need to be checking

13:16

your blood sugar levels more often

13:18

because stress has an effect

13:20

on your blood sugar and your

13:22

insulin levels in your blood. The

13:25

same goes for cardiovascular

13:27

issues. Your blood pressure will

13:30

go up when you're stressed and

13:32

if you're, if you're on medication,

13:34

you need to be monitoring your blood pressure

13:37

on a day to day basis. Uh

13:40

, and you name it. There are many

13:43

auto immune diseases and disorders

13:45

are exacerbated by stress.

13:48

I've had clients who suffer from

13:50

rheumatoid arthritis and stress

13:53

causes more fliers

13:55

. Um, recently

13:57

was talking with someone who has migraines.

14:00

I've talked to people who have lupus and

14:02

other fibromyalgia and other disorders

14:06

that stress exacerbates.

14:10

So it's up to you. Nobody can

14:12

do it for you, unfortunately.

14:15

Maybe there's no pill you

14:17

can take . Well, actually there are pills

14:19

that you can take, but I don't

14:21

recommend that you take those pills

14:24

until and unless you

14:26

have exempt , exhausted all the other

14:29

holistic, more natural

14:31

ways for you to take care of your stress,

14:34

staying hydrated, eating

14:37

well for good nutrition and not

14:39

for snacks and sugary highs

14:42

. Getting some exercise

14:44

every day, going for a good long,

14:46

brisk walk, walking the dog, getting

14:50

some physical exercise

14:53

so that your endorphins can

14:55

be lifted and you feel better about

14:57

yourself. Remembering

14:59

to breathe, long,

15:02

deep breaths a few times

15:05

a day to help relieve the stress in your shoulders

15:08

and neck. You've heard all of this before,

15:10

but given this new

15:12

message about 94%

15:14

of middle schoolers being overly stressed,

15:17

I suspect that if they were

15:19

to do a similar survey of

15:21

elementary teachers and high school teachers,

15:24

they might not be at the 94%

15:26

level, but they're well over

15:29

60 to 70% I'm just

15:31

guessing because

15:35

the amount of work that teachers are being

15:37

asked to do continues

15:39

to increase exponentially

15:42

it seems. And

15:44

the other thing that I want to point out,

15:47

and this is nothing to be

15:49

done about it except to be aware, here

15:51

we are. It's the

15:54

end of January. Today's January 28 getting

15:56

ready to go into February and

15:59

from February until the end of

16:01

the school year. For most teachers,

16:03

the stress simply ratchets up

16:05

even more. Sometime

16:09

in February, you're going to start thinking

16:11

about, if you haven't already started

16:13

worrying about it, thinking about getting

16:16

ready, getting your kids ready for their state

16:18

test because so much rides

16:21

on their performance

16:23

on that state and local tests

16:26

depending on where you live, the

16:28

stress and the accountability may

16:30

be more or less. But in just

16:32

about every location I'm aware of,

16:35

there are tests that need to be

16:37

prepared for and then taken

16:39

and then reacted to if

16:43

you're in a high risk school,

16:46

the worry is palpable

16:49

. I remember

16:51

when I S when I started teaching it

16:54

, uh, the elementary school

16:56

that I was the librarian

16:58

for , um, starting in

17:00

2001, that

17:03

old school was a title one school. They

17:05

had just the year before I got

17:07

there. They had passed for the first time

17:10

their Virginia standards of learning and they were

17:12

having a big celebration. Um,

17:16

I mean they were working so

17:18

hard trying to get the kids motivated to

17:20

do well that they had even raffled

17:22

off bicycle, a bicycle

17:25

to the kid. You know, they drew a

17:27

name from the hat of,

17:30

from the all the kids who had passed

17:32

their SOLs. So their names went into the hat

17:34

and if they, if their name got drawn and they

17:36

won a prize and the grand prize was bicycle,

17:40

I mean that, that's the kind of reward

17:42

that they were giving to get the kids motivated

17:46

and they passed. And

17:48

the year that I was there, the first

17:50

year I was there, I remember

17:53

the feeling of worry,

17:56

stress , um , concern

17:59

that began to exhibit itself

18:01

in different ways among the teachers

18:04

as early as February. And

18:07

when I say it was palpable, I mean

18:09

you could feel it on

18:11

campus. It was like appall

18:14

that hung over it . You know,

18:16

we would be, we would be in a meeting

18:18

or at lunch and

18:20

the conversation would almost always

18:23

turn to, can we do it again? What

18:25

do we have to do to pass again?

18:28

Wouldn't it be awful if we pass last

18:31

year and then didn't pass this year? And

18:34

every year after that, I mean, they passed

18:37

every year, but it never went

18:39

away. The concern, the worry, the

18:41

fretting never

18:43

went away because

18:45

the stakes were so high. That

18:48

takes a toll on the student

18:50

and the teacher. Now

18:54

my arguing that we should take accountability

18:56

off the table. No, of course not. We need

18:58

to be help . Teachers need to be held

19:00

accountable for their

19:02

performance as students

19:05

need to be held accountable

19:07

for their performance, but

19:09

I think we've taken it too

19:11

far. There

19:14

needs to be some kind of healthy

19:18

perspective about it and I don't know

19:20

exactly how to do that except

19:22

it all comes right back down to

19:25

on an individual level, you have to do

19:27

it . You have to do to be

19:29

healthy, to take care

19:31

of yourself and to

19:33

do whatever that means for

19:36

you. So,

19:40

do take the stress

19:42

assessment. If you haven't already, do

19:46

download the free ebook on stress

19:48

management strategies and the cheat

19:51

and or the cheat sheet that I'll offer.

19:54

I will also provide a link to that

19:56

particular report from yesterday

19:58

so that you can see where

20:01

they're coming from with their 94%

20:03

of middle schoolers being overly

20:06

stressed and so many of them

20:08

not having the coping mechanisms

20:10

that they need in order to

20:13

reduce their stress on their own.

20:17

Um, and it may be

20:19

for some who may be listening

20:21

to this message today, it may be

20:24

that the solution is to look for a different

20:26

job. If

20:28

that is the case then I'm here

20:30

to help with that too . I offer assistance

20:32

with stress management and stress relief,

20:35

but I also offer career transition

20:37

advice for teachers who are ready to

20:39

leave the classroom. And

20:41

if that is something you might be interested

20:43

in, I would invite you to take a look and

20:45

I'll provide a link in show notes. I'm

20:48

offering a 14-day free

20:50

trial of my "Jumpstart Your

20:52

Job Search 2.0 Group

20:55

Coaching Program." And

20:57

what that includes is 14 days,

21:00

no charge you , you still put in a credit

21:02

card but for 14 days

21:04

you can navigate the jumpstart your

21:06

job search program free if charge.

21:09

And on the 14th day if you

21:11

decide you want to keep the program, you'll

21:14

be charged $87

21:17

and then after that, every 30

21:19

days over the course of the

21:22

year, $87 for 12

21:24

equal payments. And

21:26

that allows you to continue

21:28

to keep the program, to

21:31

be invited to group coaching calls

21:33

and to have a unlimited

21:35

email support as you work your way

21:37

through the program and start job

21:39

hunting, looking for a job

21:41

that may be less stressful

21:44

than teaching. So

21:46

if you think you might be ready for a

21:49

career change, now

21:51

is the time to start looking

21:54

or not even just to start looking.

21:57

You need to understand how the job

21:59

search process works. You need

22:01

to understand how to translate

22:03

your unique , uh

22:05

, transferable skills from the classroom

22:08

to a resume that speaks to a job.

22:10

It isn't related to teaching. And

22:13

I teach all of that along with cover

22:15

letter, how to create a stellar

22:17

LinkedIn profile, how

22:19

to do the research that you need

22:21

to do on the jobs that you're interested

22:24

in, to companies you think you might like

22:26

to work for, industry you

22:28

think you might be interested in entering.

22:31

I also provide a training

22:33

on how to network, how to

22:36

rebuild your brand, how

22:38

to interview. Of course,

22:40

that's critical and your ultimate

22:43

success. Um, and,

22:46

and all of that is included in the jumpstart

22:49

your job search 2.0 program . So

22:51

if you want to take it for a spin, kinda like

22:53

kind of like I'm taking a

22:56

car out for a test drive to

22:59

check out the link offered in the notes

23:01

for the 14 day free trial and

23:04

see what you think. That's

23:07

it for today. Thank you for listening

23:09

to my rant about stress

23:12

and too much work for teachers

23:14

and um, the

23:16

inability of policymakers and politicians

23:19

to see that they've added

23:22

too much to teacher's proverbial

23:24

plates while not taking anything

23:27

away. And , um,

23:30

so it's up to you individually to take

23:32

care of yourself. And that's what I encourage you

23:34

to do with the resources offered

23:36

in the show notes today. As

23:39

always, if you have any questions, comments,

23:41

or thoughts, please email at kittyboitnott@gmail

23:45

.com . Uh , thank you for listening

23:47

or watching "Teachers in Transition."

23:50

I'm glad that you're here. I hope you find

23:52

the information useful. I'll

23:54

be back next week with a guest

23:56

special guest that I'm excited

23:59

about , uh, having a conversation

24:01

with , um, so the

24:04

be back next week until then,

24:06

have a great one. So,

24:09

there you have it, an episode of "Teachers in Transition." I hope you enjoyed the information and I hope you'll plan to come back. Please subscribe to "Teachers in Transition" so that you can be alerted of future episodes. And let me know if you have any questions or topics that you would like me to specifically cover in a future episode. I'm more than happy to help with individual questions as well. So email me at [email protected]. If you are interested in finding a new career or just enjoying your life more, this is the place to start. Hi, I'm Kitty Boitnott and this is "Teachers in Transition."