The Teacher Burnout Podcast

Finding Community and Connection as a Teacher
[00:00:00] In today's episode, I'm going to talk about having community and connection as a teacher. 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 wanna talk about having community and connection as a teacher.
We know that education is a very stressful career that takes a large toll on both our mental and emotional health. And to navigate these challenges that we face as an educator, we need the support of a community. A supportive network at home is essential, but also you need [00:01:00] that supportive network of people who are educators and get what you're going through.
It could be people at work, it could be other friends who are educators, you just need someone who understands what it's like to be a teacher and the stresses that you're going through. I know my husband, he will, he loves listening to stories of things that happen at school because kids say hilarious things and just tons of funny things happen all the time.
And my husband loves to hear those stories. But when it comes to challenges, it's really hard because he doesn't understand the struggles of education or the things that we deal with dealing with parents and students. But as a teacher, you need a support team, people who understand what you're going through.
And sometimes it's our co workers. You know, I have been so lucky to work in schools that I have had amazing co workers. In the grade levels I'm in, whatever grade level I have taught in, we've become a really close knit community. I've always been able [00:02:00] to talk to them about, you know, personal things, professional things, and just having that support is so helpful.
But sometimes it's not our co workers, because if you're working in an environment where you have unsupportive and negative co workers, or even if you have different teaching philosophies or thoughts about students, You could even have a co worker who's dealing with their own burnout and mental health issues.
So it's really hard for them to support you because they're so busy trying to just make it themselves. So, sometimes it's our co workers, sometimes it's not. But having those people that are with you that can support you through the ups and downs of education is really important to have. We all need human connection and that sense of belonging, just like our students do.
I've read so much research about the importance of students in your classroom, feeling like they belong to thrive and have the most successful education. Well, it's the same with us as educators. As we're teaching, we are going to thrive if [00:03:00] we feel like we belong in that school environment.
And if you feel like you don't belong or you don't have people to collaborate with and connect with, then you really are missing out on that piece of human connection. I've heard people say this, I don't need co workers as friends. I have plenty of friends. I have a great family.
But the reality is that you need to feel connected. Feeling connected is vital for our well being and happiness. And human connection helps lower anxiety and depression. That supports that human connection strengthens our immune system.
An article by the Harvard Business Review highlighted, we feel inspired when reminded we're not alone in our endeavors and the challenges that we face. And it's important that we know our experiences are not ours alone to struggle with. And what happens when we become burnt out? It's really detrimental because
it's inherently linked to loneliness. That's part of burnout is you feel disconnected, you feel disengaged, [00:04:00] and so that is that loneliness feeling where if you're more engaged with people around you and you're engaged in your work it's harder to get burnout .
So, also connection. If you think about self determination theory and how people are motivated, connection is not only beneficial for mental health, but it's a key motivator. According to self determination theory, people are driven by the need to connect and relate to others. So, that's one of the three components of self determination theory that keeps us motivated.
Connection is also so important for our own professional growth and development. The more we collaborate with colleagues, we're going to keep growing as professionals, and it's going to make us like our job. As we keep growing in professional learning communities or sharing ideas, that keeps us engaged in best practices and wanting to continue to grow.
Also, having that mentorship and peer support, it's going to enhance your teaching skills and your classroom management techniques. Even as a veteran teacher, towards [00:05:00] the end of my teaching career, how I used my peers, my colleagues, and we helped each other with classroom management so much.
If we had a student who was struggling, we would take them in the other classroom, and that way, We just gave the student a break from that environment and it gave the teacher a break and it was a fresh start. So that was such a great technique to have, but I couldn't have done it without that connection and help from my colleagues.
Also just having that emotional support to build resilience. So building those strong relationships, it provides emotional support during challenging times. And I can say not only during challenging times professionally, but personally. There's been so many times that, I have gone to work.
through a really hard situation and my colleagues have gotten me through that. Having somebody to talk to has gotten me through that and gotten me to a point where I was able to go in and teach. That's really hard if you don't have that connection. And then sharing experiences and coping strategies with others is going to help you build that resilience and [00:06:00] reduce feeling isolated.
Sharing experiences of behaviors. I know in schools we're always joking like it's a full moon that's why the kids are out of control or behaviors are off or whatever it is but having those connections whether it's joking about it or you know just talking about it and having people who say yeah my class has been just as crazy and to know it's not just you and you're not losing your mind is really helpful and it really helps support you emotionally and it helps you build that resilience.
A positive and supportive work environment. It does contribute to higher job satisfaction. Even if you are satisfied in your job or you think you are, and you don't really have connections at work.
That's still really difficult because having those people that you look forward to seeing can make it easier to come on a Monday morning. It can make it easier to come back from a break. Those connections and those friendships, they do matter for contributing to that higher job satisfaction.
Also feeling valued by peers and [00:07:00] understanding, it just makes the workplace more enjoyable and fun. I have found so many strengths because of coworkers valuing things I do and telling me, Hey, did you know that you're really good at, , making teacher resources? Did you know that you're a really good leader?
The compliments they gave me have led to career choices I've made. And so it's really interesting if I didn't have those peer relationships where we valued each other and found each other's strengths, I might not have gone down the path that I've gone down in so many different ways.
So, having that relationship where you do feel valued and understood by your peers. It really does help bring more fulfillment. Also improve student outcomes. You know, teachers who feel connected and supported, you're more likely, like I said earlier, to be engaged in your teaching, less likely to be burnt out.
And that's going to impact student learning and outcomes. I think about the teams that I really collaborated well with. We even switched students because we had this collaborative environment and we would help each [00:08:00] other. Plan lessons, we would co teach lessons, we would switch for interventions where she would take the higher kids, I'd take the struggling kids, and together we would work to help get all of first grade, you know, making as much progress as we could.
And it just was better learning outcomes for students because we were so collaborative and I enjoyed it more. I loved that collaboration. It made me feel like I wasn't alone. I was part of a team and I really enjoyed it. So it just that collaboration can lead to more cohesiveness, more effective instructional practices and strategies.
Also, enhanced problem solving. When you really connect with your colleagues, it's going to help you be able to problem solve together, brainstorm, lead to more effective solutions for the challenges that you're facing. Like I said, it was that idea when students were struggling, we would really work together and brainstorm.
How can we support these students? Same thing with gifted students. We had this group of students who Were really really high and we didn't know how to [00:09:00] support them with the amount of time we had and I had a friend who was a retired teacher and so we got her in and you know helped her find some activities and things to do with the kids and Together we brainstormed this and we created this plan and executed it where she would come in then and work with our high students So we did that together.
It was having that collaboration and problem solving together and also work life balance. If you have colleagues who understand the demands of the job, they can give you support and advice on achieving better work life balance. They can give you support on things like setting boundaries and not staying all evening.
they will call you out on things. They can hold you accountable. And also you share responsibilities. I used to plan and share responsibilities with my first grade colleague and it saved us so much time. I would make copies for certain activities. She would make it for the other activities and we really doubled down on the work so that we could get it done when we were there.
Just having that sense of community and belonging, I felt so supported [00:10:00] in my workplace. I feel it in the school that I'm in now. It's just this tight knit culture where teachers really support each other, and when you have that, it makes a huge difference.
We've had a lot of challenging situations this school year, and I have just seen teachers step up and say, Hey, it looks like you need a minute. I'm going to grab your class. You stay here in the lounge and take the time that you need. You know, without having colleagues like that, we wouldn't get through hard situations.
So just thinking about how that sense of community and belonging is so important. It's so important for celebrating successes together, having, sharing milestones, strengthening bonds, you know, having that positive morale, all of that is so important and it makes teaching such a better profession to have.
Every single school that I've been in, I've been in three different districts, has had really positive morale in the school, and teachers have had that tight knit community that I've seen. However, I do [00:11:00] talk to teachers who don't have that.
Whether they are in a high school setting where they're the only one teaching a certain subject and they kind of feel alone, sometimes it could be the placement of your classroom. I was in a building where my classroom was kind of way at the end, so it was harder to just pop out and talk to people, like it was when I was kind of in the center with other teachers.
So it could be location of classroom. Whatever is causing you to have problems building that community and connection, you really need to be intentional. So today I want to give you some ideas of how to find community if you don't have one at school. If you have one at school, great. If you're able to build that community at school, that's awesome.
But there are people who are in such small districts or spaces where people are negative and maybe they don't want that community because I really try to avoid negative people because I don't want to be negative. And so maybe you just need a community of people who are more positive and who can build you up.
I try to find people that I want to [00:12:00] be like, because if there's people I want to be like, then that's who I become. You are who you hang out with. And so if you find yourself just trying to find this community of people and they're negative and they talk negatively about students and each other, and it's this toxic environment, you have to be careful because you really are who you hang out with.
Today I want to talk about how to find a if you don't have one at school. The first thing I want to talk about is maybe there's educators you didn't think of in your school that you could reach out and build relationships with.
It could be that you're a first grade teacher and it's the speech pathologist or a school psychologist. Who are those people that you might not see all the time, and you haven't had as many opportunities to talk to and collaborate with, but you really get along with and could be a great support system to you.
What educators are there that you haven't had that opportunity to build a relationship with? I know for me, I have had the opportunity to work with amazing school psychologists and speech pathologists, and they [00:13:00] are a perfect example of people who are kind of on an island by themselves. They're busy doing their own thing all day, and so they don't have that planning time and connection time like other classroom teachers do.
So finding time to get to know them and meet with them at other times can be really great for not only yourself who's trying to find people to build connection with, but also those people who are in a job where it's just one of them. Another option is to take on leadership roles in your school or district where you have the opportunity to collaborate with educators in other schools or across grade levels.
In my current school, we have about 520 kids, which is Big for some schools, smaller than others, but we are a two story building. And so if you're upstairs, you rarely see the teachers downstairs and vice versa. Even I was in a school that was like 220 kids and it was an upstairs downstairs situation, and it was easy to not see people.
You would see them maybe once a week. And joining teams and [00:14:00] committees are a great way to meet people that aren't in your grade level or who aren't right by you in the building. I was on the building leadership team and the district leadership team. Great ways to meet people, not only in my building, but when I joined the district leadership team, I met amazing teachers in other buildings.
So that's another way to build those connections and meet other educators. Also, I was on a licensure committee for my district, and that was really neat because I got to talk to teachers throughout the district because not only did I talk to the people on the committee, But one of our jobs on the committee was we would go help people write Their professional development plan for their license when it expired and how they would renew that And so being a part of that I got to meet high school teachers other elementary teachers middle school teachers It was just a great way to connect with other teachers and hear about issues They were having and connect with them as well.
If you feel like you're isolated and you don't have a lot of people to talk to, take on different [00:15:00] roles in your building. Take on leadership roles, join different committees. Also join alumni networks from your college or university. Attend reunions and alumni events from the education department.
Reach out to old friends from college that you were in your college program with. I linked into my college friends a lot, especially in the beginning, because we had such similar teaching philosophies and not all of the teachers that I worked with had that philosophy. So it was really great because I could connect with them and get different teaching strategies
I also reached out to old professors a lot. my first job, I didn't have a lot of resources and I didn't really know where to start because of a lack of resources and there was so much need in this school. And I reached out to one of my literacy professors and one of my math professors and they were wonderful in giving me resources and helping support me in that role.
So. Find people that you know from your network that could help you and support you. Another thing you could do are find Facebook groups. There's so many different [00:16:00] Facebook groups. You can get elementary, high school, whatever area you're in I am part of different Facebook groups and there's a lot of times that people ask questions.
It can be anonymous if you want it to be anonymous. And you can just get advice and hear what people are doing in different districts, different states, different countries even. So that's another way you can connect with people.
Another way you can connect with people is through my membership, the Resilient Educator Academy. Through this academy, I have a private Facebook group. So in this group you can post anonymously, you can post with your name, you can private message me. any way that you want to get that support and collaboration.
We also have monthly coaching calls twice a month that you can ask questions and get coached. So that's another great way to meet people and also get coached on certain topics and learn more. And that's only 17 a month and coaching is typically around 100 an hour. It's a great deal. It's a time [00:17:00] you can connect with other teachers.
I would highly recommend the Resilient Educator Academy if you have not had a chance to join yet. And also get involved in professional associations. What associations do they have, either nationally, in your state, in your local areas, for teachers that you could get involved in and meet other educators?
Because those professional associations can be really great. I know in my school, a big way that teachers connect is even through the union. We are in Ohio, and Ohio has strong unions for teachers. We have some teachers who are really big in the union associations and they go to state conferences and things like that.
So that's another way to connect with educators. Also, if you can go to conferences, this really depends on your district. I've been in districts where they do send teachers to conferences, and then I've been in others where they don't. So if your district allows you to go to different professional development, or will send you to a conference, definitely take advantage of those things.
If your district doesn't do that, then join virtual [00:18:00] conferences. I'm presenting at a conference this summer where I submitted a session and it's all virtual and you can even pay to watch all the sessions on your own time. It's called educate and rejuvenate.
I do have the link in the show notes to sign up for that conference, but it's a great way to meet other educators. and really collaborate with others. So that's another idea is to sign up for a virtual conference like Educate and Rejuvenate,
so those are the ways that you can find community if you don't have a community in your school. But like I said, just know the importance of having a community. Don't give up on the idea of it. Don't be a person who says, I don't need anybody. I can just go to work, do my thing and leave.
Because if that's you, you need some kind of community, even if you make your own outside of the school district. You need people who know what you're going through, who can support you through it, and you can support them, mentoring and having those different relationships are really helpful for maintaining that community and that connection as a teacher.
Thank you so much for joining us today for [00:19:00] another episode of the teacher burnout podcast.
Make sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook at barbedflowerscoaching. com. If you like the show, share this episode with a friend, but keep in mind you have the power to shape your life according to the mindset you choose. I hope you have a great week and I'll see you back here next time.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.