The Teacher Burnout Podcast

[00:00:00] In today's episode, I'm going to share strategies to embrace your true worth as a teacher beyond your evaluation rating. That's all coming up next right here on the Teacher Burnout Podcast. Stay tuned.
Welcome to the Teacher Burnout Podcast, where we explore the challenges of burnout for teachers and share practical strategies to support teacher well being. I'm your host Barb Flowers. If you're a teacher looking for ways to prevent burnout or an educational leader searching for strategies to support your team, this podcast is for you.
Let's dive in.
Welcome back to the podcast. Today, I want to talk to you about how you can embrace your true worth as a teacher.
We're going to be talking about how you see yourself as more than the evaluation rating you receive from an evaluator. So states and schools have different evaluation systems. I know there's the Danielson framework that a lot of schools [00:01:00] do. I'm in Ohio, we have the Ohio teacher evaluation system that's based on the Danielson framework.
And whatever system you're using, most evaluation systems have some sort of rating on them. So, in ours, it's ineffective, developing, skilled, or accomplished. And I know in the Danielson framework
it focuses on being proficient and distinguished. So, same idea though, that there's basically a proficient, teacher who's skilled and an accomplished or distinguished teacher. And what I see so often is that teachers are only happy unless they're accomplished. And I was guilty of this as a teacher as well.
So I totally get that. But now being in an evaluator, I have a different viewpoint that I just wanted to share and help you really think about how you see your worth as a teacher. Because I see so many teachers put their worth in that rating. So if I'm proficient or skilled, I'm just okay. [00:02:00] And if I'm accomplished and distinguished, then I'm a good enough teacher, right?
I see that happen. And it happens to principals too. In our principal evaluation system, it's the same type of rating where you can be skilled or accomplished. And The, the most important thing you have to remember is you can't let whatever rating you have define who you are as a teacher or define your worth, because often what I see, I see wonderful teachers that are skilled.
I like to say this all the time, skilled or proficient. There are so many teachers in my building that are skilled or proficient that I would love for my children to have teachers. like them or them teaching my children. So when we think of being skilled or proficient, I think we think we're not good enough because we're not accomplished.
We're not that top tier of teaching based on that rubric. And I just want to reframe your thinking about that. And I want to reframe how we look at the evaluation system [00:03:00] because evaluation systems, they can be really beneficial. I'm not anti evaluation systems. They can be beneficial depending on how they're used.
Both teachers and principals can use them ineffectively. So think about this. If you're a teacher and when your principal comes in, or your evaluator, and you put on a dog and pony show to get the highest rating, you know what's on your rubric, you know exactly what evidence you need to have to get that accomplished or distinguished rating, and you put that performance on, are you really getting better?
Or are you just putting on a show and doing all this work to put on a show versus a proficient or skilled teacher who Does what they do in everyday practice and then looks for true feedback on that So that's just one way I think that teachers utilize the evaluation system wrong They're just looking to get that higher rating instead of focusing on trying to get feedback and just [00:04:00] being an overall better teacher.
But then also administrators use it ineffectively by just trying to be done. I mean, I get this as an administrator sometimes we have so many evaluations that we have to do that, you know, you hurry up and do it and maybe you don't do it in a way that gives the most feedback or, you're just giving people the rating they want to have or, You're not looking for all the evidence.
So there's just different ways, if it's not done right, that principals can do it ineffectively as well. So you have to be aware of that on both sides. But I just want you to remember that the point of an evaluation system is really just to have conversations to get better. It's to get feedback and improve your teaching.
In Ohio, what I see as an elementary principal is that our evaluation rubric does not match what we're telling teachers they need to do to teach reading, especially with the science of reading, because what is going on is there's a lot of student led components of the rubric, which is great.
However, that's [00:05:00] not what we're teaching teachers to do when we're saying to do the science of reading, we're teaching teachers to teach explicitly in the, I do, we do, you do, and that is skilled. That is not in the accomplished or distinguished category. So I think that that makes it a little bit tricky too.
So just some things to keep in mind. If you're trying to do the rubric and you're trying to do what you're taught in professional development I'm seeing that they don't always align. Which is not really fair for teachers anyways But just something to keep in mind as you're doing your evaluation And so today what I want to do is I want to share some strategies to help you if you are a person who lets Your rating define your worth and i've worked with a lot of teachers who have different philosophies.
I've worked with teachers You who are like, Oh, it's fine. I'm good being skilled. I don't want to put that much work into my evaluation. And then I've worked with teachers who spend hours preparing. So I'm not saying one is better than the other. I will say that, I would focus on what is going to help you be a [00:06:00] better teacher.
Is it going to be putting in hours for that one evaluation, or is it going to be, learning and doing PD and book studies to just continue to get better on your own. So think about how you're spending your time and what you're doing to get ready for those evaluations. Is it necessary? Is it worth it?
Those are all things to think about because if we're talking about if your rubric or your evaluation does not define your worth as teacher, What do you want that evaluation to look like? Okay, so just some thoughts on that. And so today I want to share some strategies to help you if you are a person who lets your rating define your worth.
So my first strategy is reflect on the impact that you've had on students. So don't focus on the rubric, but focus on your data that you have. How have your students grown? What have you done that has truly made an impact on your students? Focus on that. I think, Sometimes we get caught up in the rating and are we accomplished?
Are we skilled? But how are your students [00:07:00] growing? If I'm an accomplished teacher and I look at my data and none of my kids are growing, just because that rubric says accomplished, is that something that I should be doing? be proud of. We need to be looking at the actual data. Data doesn't lie. I know that \ it can be frustrating based on how students, attend on the assessment but you have to remember that we have that data for a reason.
You should have multiple pieces of data. And if we're seeing that kids are growing, Then you know what you're doing as a teacher is working. So reflect on that impact, reflect on, you know, the impact you've had on kids behaviorally on your students. How have you seen their behavior grow? Have you seen their social and emotional needs growing?
There's so much that you do as a teacher. That's not even based on academics. How have you seen that relationship with that family build throughout the year? So just reflect on that overall, the whole child impact that you've had on your students. And my second tip is to focus on growing as a teacher.
You know, what areas do you want to [00:08:00] grow as a teacher? And focus on that. Don't get caught up in just focusing on your evaluation system. But what goals did you set for growth? And did you meet those goals? And if you did, focus on that progress and celebrate the small wins along the way.
As part of our evaluation system in Ohio, we do professional growth plans, teachers are expected to meet growth on those, but it's really about growth in the teacher and , the strategies and things that teachers are doing. It's not about student data, so really focusing on a plan like that is a good way to continue to grow because you could be doing a book study where you're implementing instructional strategies, and then you celebrate when you implement those in your classroom.
That's what you want is to just keep getting better every day and also focus on growing as a teacher But as a person, you know it you could focus on personal goals You want to look at yourself as you're a holistic person? And so growth in your personal life is going to cause growth in your professional life [00:09:00] so that should be celebrated as well when we grow personally, we also are growing professionally because often we try to separate our personal and professional life, but You If you think about it, when we win anywhere in our life, it affects everything.
When we're struggling in our personal life, it affects our professional life. So celebrate those wins that you have, even if they're in your personal life and they're not just as a teacher. And number three, have self compassion. Remember that your evaluation is one to three lessons out of the school year, depending on how often you're evaluated.
In my district, if you're on an off cycle, it's one evaluation, but it could be up to three. I don't know if districts have more than that, but remember that's one to three lessons out of you teaching every single day, all day. Remember that and have self compassion. I've had lessons that I've been evaluated on where I had the wrong papers prepared and, and it was just a total mistake.
And you know, it was one lesson and I just had to let it go. It went okay, but I [00:10:00] was playing a review game that went with a different skill. And so when we started playing, I thought, Oh, this doesn't seem right. And I realized it was for the wrong lesson. What do you do in that situation? You just try to do your best and fix it like you would any other day.
So remember that it's one to three lessons out of the school year. So don't judge your worth on those lessons alone. I know a lot of veteran teachers who are wonderful teachers and they get super nervous when I come in and evaluate them and I'm coming into their classrooms almost every day, just walking around.
And I do that just to be present and be in the classrooms. But then when I come in to evaluate them, they're super nervous. They tell me, this Is what they tell me. I can't always even tell, but. They tell me that they mess up because they're so nervous. And remember that's a veteran teacher.
I have teachers who are 20 years into teaching and they're still nervous when I come in the room to evaluate, because it's that perfectionist mindset. They want to do well. They really put their worth with that evaluation. So have [00:11:00] self compassion
also remember that it's. In your evaluation, you have to have so much evidence. So if you're not bringing the evidence or you're not showing the things that you're doing in your classroom, that also could change your rating. Just remember that there's so much that goes on in evaluation. It's what you're doing in that day when they're observing, but it's also all the evidence that you give.
So you have to make sure. That you have that evidence and that you're sharing all the evidence you have and maybe there's areas that you know you would rate better, you just didn't have the evidence to show. Have self compassion. Don't beat yourself up based on a rating. And then my last tip is to focus on your why.
So stay focused on why you're a teacher. Why did you become a teacher in the first place? Why do you wake up every day and go to work? Think about those things. I know it's not for an evaluation. I know it's not because you're an accomplished teacher or a skilled teacher. Those aren't the things that keep you going.
Even if somebody tells you you're the best teacher in the world and you don't feel like [00:12:00] that, it's not going to mean anything. So you have to make sure that you're focusing on your why. You have to make sure that you have belief in your abilities regardless of a rating.
And that you're focusing on why you're a teacher, why you want to help kids, why you went into this profession in the first place. Don't let your evaluation take that away. Because if you only feel good about your teaching based on a rubric and your evaluation, then you're probably too focused on people pleasing anyway.
What I always like to look at is what made me feel good as a teacher is when I saw students growing. That's why I became a teacher. I loved when I would work with kids and that light bulb moment would , come off and you would see the progress they're making. And it just was so exciting to watch them grow.
And so, Personally, when I thought a lesson went really well, or when I tried something new and it worked, those were the moments that made me realize why I love teaching so much. I love that feeling of being able to help kids, of making a difference in their life. [00:13:00] there's so many ways to focus on progress.
Don't get stuck on just focusing on your evaluation. To recap, instead of focusing on your rating as your self worth, remember to reflect on the impact you've had on Focus on growing as a teacher, have self compassion, and focus on your why. And if after listening to this podcast, you're still struggling with putting your worth into your rating, then I encourage you to join the Resilient Educator Academy.
In this membership, we focus on making sure you build resilience so that you can handle difficult situations when they come up. Research shows that teachers have the lowest resilience compared to other working adults, and we have to build that resilience up to beat burnout. Click the link in the show notes to join the resilient educator Academy and join us for our live coaching calls, get access to courses.
And access to coaching in our Facebook group, as well as a Monday motivation. So I hope that you'll join us in the Resilient Educator Academy. And thanks so much for listening [00:14:00] to the podcast episode today of the Teacher Burnout podcast. Make sure to follow me on Instagram at barbflowerscoaching. com. And if you love the show and you're listening on Apple, please scroll down in your app and leave a review.
That's how people find the podcast. So I'd appreciate if you would leave a review and keep in mind, you have the power to shape your life according to the mindset you choose. So I hope you have a great week and I'll see you back here next time.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.