Inspire & Innovate: A Podcast for Educators

Friends, you already loved Maria Edwards, Judy Menist, Rachel Scott, and Toby Lowe, but just wait. Their vulnerability, wisdom, and depth of stories in this particular podcast episode recorded on Friday the 13th (just the day before Toby got married) will undoubtedly move you.  Part therapy session, part love story, part call to action, episode 2 in  “Can We Talk?”  reflects on the very real, very timely topic of teacher burnout.  What is it? What produces it? How do we help ourselves and our colleagues when we find ourselves there?  

 

Listen to the whole conversation, or pick and choose from the show notes below:

 

2:35-7:26:  Maria had the advantage of entering her teaching career armed with tools for avoiding teacher burnout: find a community, connect to your personal “why” for teaching, don’t hesitate to ask help from mentors, choose to teach at the RIGHT place that fuels you, accept that every day is a different-new day, embrace the constant change that surrounds teaching., and enjoy the performative aspects of teaching.

 

7:30-8:20: Toby recalls his feeling of belonging when first invited to SA and the impact it made.

 

8:43-12:40:: Judy reminds us that community and having a passion for what you do isn’t enough to guard against burnout . . . and why fireworks and campfires provide powerful analogies for a sustainable teaching career. 

 

14:05-16:32: Judy’s story of burnout which stemmed from not feeling trusted as a professional and the constant pendulum swing of “this is how you are supposed to teach.” She reminds us, “It’s easy to get [to a place of burnout], and you’re there before you realized what caused you to get there.”

 

16:35 -17:20: Why burnout isn’t always directly tied to long working hours working.

 

17:20-18:42; 22:20-28:34; 29:59-30:15: If you can only listen to one section of the pod, listen to these snippets in which Toby shares vulnerably about his own personal experiences with burnout. 

 

18:43- 21:01: Rachel’s story: burnout by boredom ironically cured by the challenges covid presented 

 

21:02-22:07: If you’ve seen one case of burnout, you’ve seen one case of burnout; there is no monolithic experience or cure.

 

28:35-29:57: Why it’s doubly difficult to do “mindfulness” as a teacher . . . and why teaching pushes all of us into anxiety.

 

31:48-34:30: Judy issues a strong call to administrators to pause, read the room about how faculty are feeling, and take the time to ask faculty for their professional opinions. 

 

34:45-36:20:  You know how north campus students have to fill out a survey and list their “trusted adult” on campus?  Well, we think we should have to do that as faculty as well; asking help is most definitely a superpower.