The Teacher Burnout Podcast

Strategies for Teachers When Classroom Autonomy Fades
[00:00:00] In today's episode, I wanna talk about when you feel like you're losing autonomy in your classroom. That's all coming up next, right here on the Teacher Burnout Podcast Day tuned.
Speaker: 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 we're going to be talking about losing autonomy in your classroom. And this conversation really came up because I've been working with a lot of principals, in my experience with elementary right now in the state of Ohio, is that we have really shifted our curriculum based on the science of reading.
And because of that, we have gone from teachers having a [00:01:00] lot of autonomy in their classroom of what they can teach. It just needed to be standards based or aligned to having a more rigid curriculum that teachers are expected to follow and they really need to be following it with, they really need to be following it with fidelity.
And I laugh when I say the word fidelity a little bit because , teachers that I worked with were so frustrated with this that they were like, I don't want to hear the word fidelity again. And I get it. I get it. It can be really frustrating when You're not used to following a specific curriculum or you've had a little bit more freedom in the past.
And I wanted to give you some tips today as a teacher of how to really, , work through this because this can be really challenging. And the thing that I see with teachers is they cause a lot more stress for themselves when they fight back on this. And so I wanted to give some tips just from what I see as an administrator and just as a life coach, how you can help yourself through these situations.
, so. I really am. Teachers, I want you to think as I'm talking about this. When I was a [00:02:00] teacher, I taught , first and third grade in a district that we had when I first started a very old math curriculum, but we did have a math curriculum and a very old reading curriculum and the reading curriculum really was not aligned to what we needed at that point.
We did have a good phonics curriculum. Okay. And I say that, , Because what I want to paint the picture of is that I was the grade level chair for first and third grade and we would go to our first grade meetings. First grade was pretty good. We were all on the same page of what good instruction was. , so it was fine.
First grade was pretty easy. We curriculum mapped. We had a lot of good resources and things that we shared. We were making good progress with students and helping them grow. Then when I went to third grade, it was a little bit trickier because one, our third graders, , by the time they're in third grade, there's bigger gaps.
So they're all over the place with how they can read and what they know. And every teacher in that grade level team had a different philosophy of how to teach. I should say we, we had like two camps, right? We had the standards [00:03:00] based camp and the theme based camp. Camp. Okay. And , it basically went by when teachers graduated and how long they had been teaching.
And so I was the grade level chair. There was a principal in the meeting and it was like, okay, how do I determine what's best? Right? I didn't feel like I was, I know I was the lead teacher, but I wasn't quite sure how do I determine what's best. And I would talk to this administrator who was in there. And even he felt ill equipped with curriculum to say, Hey, I know that this way is the best way.
This is what we should be doing. And really, when I look back, what the problem was is we did not have a unified curriculum. And so there were huge gaps in what kids were learning because what they did from first to second was different based on the school, based on the classroom. It just, it was kind of a mess because there was not a curriculum that we were following.
And we didn't know what was being taught. Okay. And so that was the issue for reading. In math, we had a curriculum we were following, and then eventually we got a new curriculum, which made it even better because [00:04:00] We knew exactly what people were teaching, but then the problem came when some teachers felt like the math curriculum was a little too rigorous.
They weren't teaching to the curriculum. And then again, that same mess happened. And so I share all this to just give you the perspective that when people aren't following the curriculum or they're not teaching based on what the district expects of them, it really does, from a big picture standpoint, create a whole mess of like what kids know, what they don't know, and it can be really hard on seeing kids progress through the grade levels.
So I want to start by just giving you that big picture perspective because it's easy as a teacher to think about what works in our classroom, but we have to think about the big picture of curriculum. So here are three things that I want you to think about if you've had this for a while. Freedom in curriculum and then all of a sudden you feel like you got a new curriculum or something changed and you lost your autonomy.
So the first thing I want you to do is focus on what you can control. So while curriculum [00:05:00] mandates are required or may be mandated in your district, like I said, in the state of Ohio, they mandated the reading curriculum, which is new. So I could see that happening with math and more mandates like that coming, but they mandated a new reading curriculum.
And so. That curriculum is required to teach. And so because it is required by the state to have a reading curriculum aligned to the science of reading, Teachers are required to teach it. So you as the teacher have to focus on what you can control. It can be frustrating when you used to do units that you loved and want to keep teaching, but you have to remember that if this is what you're supposed to be doing, this is what you're paid to be doing, and this is what the district that you're working for expects from you.
Now, with that, focus on what you can control. You still have agency of your teaching style. And I know sometimes with rigid curriculums, it feels like you've lost that, but there are ways to bring your teaching style in. You get to decide what your classroom management looks like, how [00:06:00] much choice you give students, how you give students their own agency in the classroom.
Right. You get to decide that. Also, the relationships you build with students, how you treat students, the energy you bring to lessons. Nobody can take that away from you. Not with a mandated curriculum or anything. So you have to find creative ways. To make the required curriculum engaging, but also be professionally satisfying for you.
And I think you always just have to bring yourself back to what in this situation do I have control over? So instead of fighting about the things that you don't have control over, I want you to think. What do I have control over? What can I make fun? What can I do with my teaching style? I've seen teachers who have sarcasm and they're funny.
Like they're teach the students get the sarcasm. Like it's not in a bad way. Right. Or I've seen teachers who just have a great, I've seen teachers who have a great sense of humor. They bring that I've seen teachers who are so [00:07:00] structured. They can bring that into the new curriculum, whatever that is for you.
Know that you still bring your teaching style. You still make it what it is. So focus on what you can control. And what I see so often is teachers get upset about the things they can't control, thinking that they're going to make a difference by being all upset or, telling everybody how they feel, not that it's a bad thing to share how you feel.
As an administrator, I always loved when my teachers shared their thinking and where they were coming from, because it helped me with making decisions, but you don't want to do things in a way where you're spending so much emotional energy. That really the only person you're hurting is yourself. And I see this so often that teachers resist things so much.
And it's only hurting themselves because it's not going to change. Some of these things that we have to do in schools are state mandates. They're not going to change. And so you can get so upset, but if you don't focus on what you can control and release the rest, you really are going to burn yourself out [00:08:00] where you're going to be in an emotionally.
super negative headspace, and you're not going to be happy. And when you're not happy at school, you're usually not happy in your personal life as well, because we're a whole person and it infiltrates everywhere. And so I want you to think about that and really focus on what you can control.
My second tip is to find small spaces for personalization. So kind of what I talked about with your teaching style, Your classroom management, but also think about what fun things can you still do for hundreds day? What fun things can you do for the holidays? Like, how can you bring those things in and a simple or very small ways?
Because I understand you might not have the amount of time you used to have. But how do you still do that? How do you still bring in fun read alouds for kids, right? Just these small expressions of your own teaching identity, it can help maintain some of your autonomy. So really thinking about ways that you can , make it your teaching.
Maybe. I know a lot of, I'm thinking elementary, but they do memory books, right? You [00:09:00] can still do those memory books. You're still gonna have field days and assemblies and all those fun things. So you could still have those memory books to look back on in the school year. So where are those small spaces for personalization?
So it might not be. Your whole curriculum. But just think about how you can personalize things and make them fun for you, for your kids and for your teaching team. And my third tip is reframe your perspective. So again, rather than viewing having a standardized curriculum as a limitation, Just remember it provides you structure and it can free up so much mental energy.
When I didn't have that structure and curriculum, I was so stressed on, was I teaching the right way? Was I doing the right things? Was I meeting all my kids needs? Where was I going to get the resources I needed? I was constantly buying things with my own money. And so think about if you have all those resources, If you have all those resources, shift your mindset from what I teach to how effectively I can [00:10:00] teach it.
And that is going to help you find that purpose, that professional fulfillment, but also reduce your stress about factors outside of your control. Okay. So be careful with focusing on things outside of your control. You have to reframe your perspective. So instead of being upset about a new curriculum, find ways that you can be excited about it.
Even if you're not excited about the whole thing, even if there's pieces that you don't like, like what is the good in it? And when we're reframing our perspective, this is, this kind of goes with three, this is kind of a four. You want to be careful about talking with other teachers and complaining over and over again.
Okay. . I think it's really good to have teachers that you can talk with and vent. Don't get me wrong. I think that's important. I felt like that was an important as an administrator, but venting. And complaining where there's no solution and you just want everybody to validate your, and you want everybody to validate your views is not helpful because all you're doing with [00:11:00] your mindset is you're reaffirming the negative, right?
You're not letting yourself switch to a different perspective. And if you never switch to a different perspective, you're going to stay stuck in that old mindset. And the only person that hurts is you. I cannot say this enough that if you learn to reframe your perspective, your mindset, all of it, You are the person who's going to be happier, you're going to be happier at school, you're going to be happier in your personal life, and so you have to focus on the things that you can control.
So I just want to go back to these three points. Focus on what you can control, find small areas that you can personalize in the curriculum, and reframe your perspective. If you can do these things, I'm telling you that it will make a huge difference in your teaching experience, and you're going to be happier as a teacher.
If you are interested in a free consultation where we can talk through these things, if you're really struggling with a new curriculum or something that they're doing at your school, I would love the opportunity to talk through it with you.
You can reach out to me at [00:12:00] barbedflowerscoaching. com. , because I'd love to talk to you about this. You have to focus on what you can control so that you can be happy in your own teaching career.
And I want you to remember if you love the show, if you're listening on Apple, please scroll down, leave a review. That's how people find the show, 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.