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"There is no word in the language I revere more than teacher, my heart sings when a kid refers to me as his teacher, and it always has. I've honored myself, and my whole family by becoming one."
Pat Conroy 'Prince of Tides'
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As a former teacher and professor I always liked this time of the year when anything seemed possible. We are all of us teachers and mentors; we might be parent/teacher, a business/teacher, a coach or a schoolteacher. This article is mostly dedicated to schoolteachers, but its message goes well beyond the classroom. I speak at many education conferences and have a great admiration for the teaching profession, which can have such a profound influence over our lives.
To illustrate the potential power of teaching and teachers, I have sometimes posed the following situation to the audience.
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"Imagine you are dead and you have a heavenly reception to which you can invite 3 non-family members who made a powerful positive impact on the direction of your life. Raise your hand if one of your guests is in the following professions." Then I list some professions (e.g. lawyer, software engineer, dentist, vet, accountant etc.) and get a few hands. Then I mention 'teacher' and get a forest of hands. Teaching is truly a life-changing profession.
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Given the importance of the profession I am concerned that many of the education conferences I attend and articles I read focus on teacher and administrative stress. Stress is a reality and there are some markers to indicate this. In my own province the amount of stress related short and long term disability leave has increased, in Alberta the use of Prozac by teachers went up 30% in 1998 and the Japanese even have a special phrase "gakkyu hokai" for the classroom collapse of teachers. However, having said that, it is important to remember that while most teachers might feel some work related stress at times, they are not distressed or incapacitated. In informal surveys of my own the majority of educators say they enjoy teaching and do not find it unreasonably stressful.
The reality is that teaching is one of the world's best jobs if you like it and one of the worst and most stressful if you don't. There are a number of simple things you can do to avoid stress and burnout.
(1)
If you don't like teaching, quit. It's not fair to yourself or your students if you resent the demands of the profession. No financial security or pension plan is worth doing a job you hate.
(2)
Understand the pressures and challenges that surround education and that some of society's expectations are unrealistic. Parker Palmer refers to this in his excellent book, 'The Courage to Teach'
(which can be purchased at Amazon.com or
Chapters.ca).
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"Teaching and learning are critical to our individual and collective survival and to the quality of our lives. The pace of change has us snarled in complexities, confusions and conflicts. Panic-stricken by the demands of our day, people need scapegoats for the problems they cannot solve, and the teachers make an easy target. We blame them for being unable to cure social ills that no one knows how to treat; we insist that they instantly adopt whatever "solution" has most recently been concocted by our national panacea machine; and in the process we sometimes demoralize the very teachers who could help us find our way."
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Change and growth are exciting and will always be a part of education. A useful survival skill as an educator is to learn to distinguish between change related to real growth and the flavor of the month.
(3)
Look after yourself! As a teacher you are a precious resource and if you are to continue to function at a high level it makes sense to practice high level wellness and lifestyle artistry. Obviously I can't describe all the elements of self-care. But here are a few reminders.
(a)
Think in positive terms about your students, your job and yourself. If you want to find problems, they exist in abundance, but they'll grind you down if they become your main focus. Remember the Biblical quote, "As you think so shall you be". If you believe that, positive thinking makes absolute sense. Stay away from the staffroom mafia, who are always complaining and seem to put out a contract on kids. "Watch out for that Tony, he's a terror. I like to get in a few pre-emptive words to shut him up early."
(b)
Enthusiasm is another precious commodity. Enthusiastic teachers do more by mistake than miserable dull picky ones do by design. As Steve Martin noted, "You don't find meaning, you create it", and in the classroom you create meaning and importance by your passion. As I noted in 'The Boring Song':
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"If you want to help children
Take their hand
And talk in a language
They can understand
Show some enthusiasm
Do your best
Laugh a lot
And often say 'Yes'"
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RealPlayer required (free)
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(c)
Build physical activity into your daily routine. The key to the human potential movement is movement. If there were a pill that delivered to the body/mind the benefits of exercise it would be the biggest selling medication in the world. Many, many of our problems with overweight, stress, sickness, tiredness and need for medication would disappear if we were physically active on a regular basis.
A recent article in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found that exercise was at least as effective as psycho-therapy in dealing with stress, and, of course, a whole lot cheaper and more pleasant. In the past week researchers at Duke University, Dr James Blumenthal et al. published their findings in the Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine. In a study of 156 men (too bad it was men only) over age 50 who had all been diagnosed as depressed were put in the following treatment groups. Group 1—regular exercise; Group 2—Antidepressant drug (trade name Zoloft); Group 3—Exercise and drug Zoloft. After 4 months all three groups showed significant signs of lower depression rates. But 6 months later only those in Group 1 showed a dramatically lower relapse into depression (81%), compared to 38% in the drug only Group 2 and surprisingly, 31% in the Group 3 drug plus exercise group. Apparently the use of the antidepressant blocked some of the major benefits of exercise.
(d)
Laughter. One of the great benefits of working in school is that children are funny, sometimes intentionally sometimes not. I always feel indebted to the socials teacher who compiled a list of student bloopers into a "Child's History of the World." e.g. "Louis Pasteur discovered a cure for rabbis. Sir Francis Drake circumcised the globe with a 100 foot clipper." Another example is of a fire chief addressing a grade one class.
Fire Chief: "What would you do if your clothes were on fire?"
Student: "Oh, I wouldn't put them on."
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. "To miss the joy is to miss it all."
(e)
Nutrition. Follow your mother's advice. "Eat your fruits and vegetables." Nature makes the locks and nature has the keys. You don't need to listen to the dueling diet doctors with their ever-changing formulae for weight loss. Eat a good breakfast, consume plenty of grains, fruits and vegetables and drink plenty of fluids (especially water). If you must, take a few vitamins especially vitamins C and E, and Omega 3 and 6 (e.g. fish oil and evening primrose oil). Balance the calories you consume with the calories you burn in your activities of daily living (as discussed in Forget The Math, Let's Eat!).
Don't you hate it when people give simple advice like this? So many of us are in pursuit of the lifestyle loophole, and it's amazing what people will do, and how much they'll spend to try and avoid regular exercise and sensible eating. Liposuction, body wraps, "fat burning" pills and extreme dietary regimes are expensive and ineffective. If you want to look good, feel good and manage the daily challenges of teaching, eat well, exercise and move towards higher level wellness. The side effects of this will be that your stressors will seem of less and less significance.
I always tell people about the 3 A's (Activity Absorbs Anxiety). When you're feeling stressed the body switches into its 2 million year-old fight or flight reflex. (It transforms itself into a fighting/running weapon.) If you go home, have a drink and collapse in front of the TV on a daily basis the stress begins to take up residence in your body. But if you exercise, you deliver to the body/mind the movement it is craving and you resolve the hormonal storm created by stress. (See the article on Balance.)
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(4)
If the demands of life pile up, access some specific stress management techniques. One, which is always accessible, is the breath.
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And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine
A being breathing thoughtful breath
A traveler betwixt life and death.
Wordsworth
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We are rarely conscious of our breath; it does its job without our having to pay attention. Yet it is in the act of paying attention, when we choose to, that affords the possibility of using breath to restore balance in the face of life's constant demands and disruptions (I can remember teachers at school saying "Pay attention Collis!" Now I do when it comes to my health). By being mindful of breath, especially by recognizing the importance of exhaling completely to allow for full inhalation, we give the mind, body and spirit an opportunity to integrate and marshal resources. To connect with our be-ingness versus our constant do-ingness.
By breathing in a controlled, focused manner we are leading the body/mind away from the adrenal fueled sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous state towards a relaxed parasympathetic (rest and repose) state. It is not by chance that an awareness of breathing is a fundamental part of the 'Relaxation Response' developed by Herbert Benson. This response calms the body/mind enabling us to 'let go' of the stress and panic, which, in the end, can leave us, literally, 'out of breath'.
Other proven stress management regimes include:
- Yoga
- Progressive muscle relaxation
- Meditation
On my new CD 'Beaten Tracks' Nancy Wardle, MD delivers a wonderful 6 minute breath focused meditation, which is also available in a longer form on her tape 'Calm Down'.
None of these is a quick-fix program and they require time and commitment to get the full benefits from them.
The closest to a quick fix is a great massage and if you are ever looking for a gift for your favorite teacher or administrator, a massage will almost invariably be welcomed.
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(5)
Give yourself something to look forward to. For many people this can be a trip to one of their favorite destinations, and a real change of pace.
Increasingly, teachers are using techniques such as salary deferral to enable them to have a sabbatical. Something that's often available to educators is an exchange program whereby you trade jobs with someone in another country for a year.
(6)
Remember, you're NEVER 'Just A Teacher'.
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The Teacher Song
"What do you know, it's Harold Brown.
It's been a long old time.
The way old buddies drift apart
It surely is a crime.
So what about those kids of yours?
I bet they've long since grown.
They were the best, but since they've left the nest
How far have they flown?"
"My daughter she's a lawyer,
And she works in real estate.
She lives down in Los Angeles
And business is going great.
My older boy he's a doctor
And here's a funny twist.
He always was a shy one
Now he's a gynecologist."
"But what about the youngest one
The brightest of the three?
I always felt that he'd succeed
In what he chose to be.
How come you haven't mentioned him?
Are you holding out on me?
I really felt that Tommy Brown
Would climb the highest tree."
"Oh Tommy; he's just a teacher
In a small Alberta town.
For every triple feature
You get someone who plays the clown.
He was offered success on a silvery plate
And he went and stared it down.
He just took a job and followed his fate
To a small Alberta town."
"So your daughter works in real estate
Selling condos to the rich.
And your doctor son he's a real wiz
At fixing that terrible itch.
And Tommy's found a little town
To make himself a niche.
You ask me who's successful?
Well, I can tell you which."
"For my grandson had a handicap
And it made him insecure.
And no special ed. psychologist
Could offer him a cure.
But then he got a teacher
By the name of Tommy Brown
Who got through to my grandson
And he turned his life around."
"So that's the way I heard about
Your unsuccessful one.
Helping out my grandson
Is not the only thing he's done.
He has a special way with kids
And of making learning fun.
When thirty children leave his class
They each feel number one!"
"So, Tommy, he's just a teacher
In a small Alberta Town.
It's him and it's teachers like him
That make the world go round.
He's got a pick-up truck and a trailer
For a couple of thousand down.
He's got the love of everybody
In that small Alberta town."
Martin Collis
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This song was written after an actual conversation with an enthusiastic 30 something male teacher of a split grade 3/4 class in Medicine Hat Alberta, who excitedly told, "I've been teaching for 11 years and I get higher on it every year." But he went on to say that his Dad was disappointed that he was JUST A TEACHER! His brother was a physician and his sister was a lawyer and, strange as it might seem, his Dad thought he could have done better. I'm proud to say my son is 'Just A Teacher'.
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