"When we learn how to teach, we must also consider what it will feel like to teach."
Chapter 6
Heartfelt, honest, and real, author Diane Manser shares example after example of how teachers feel the pressure of being “just one person” in a profession that demands a lot of them outside of lesson planning and delivery. Chapter 6 examines specific examples from principal evaluation and parents’ expectations to students’ pains that teachers are brought into to the teacher’s own pains he/she may experience in personal life. Being just one person is one of the biggest struggles we all face as teachers, as sometimes we cannot be at a 100% level in all categories of our lives. This chapter give validation to that feeling and shares with readers how we can—as best as possible—move graciously and sensibly through the struggles we may feel when we feel burdened as “just one person.”
Questions:
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When have you, in your teaching life, felt like just one person, needing to manage a great deal of pressure or events while also managing your teaching life? How did this make you feel? Do you have any advice for others who may be going through a similar situation?
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Sometimes we are brought into students’ painful stories, and this can feel overwhelming and hard to manage, especially as we also hold a standard for our classroom expectations. When has this happened to you? What have you learned from this that you could share with others?
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How do you manage principal evaluations or when parents are dissatisfied with your teaching and efforts? How do you graciously and sensibly move through these experiences?
Resources:
Emotional Exhaustion: What It Is and How to Treat It »
Secondary Trauma: What It Is, Who It Affects And How To Cope, According To Experts »
Protecting Your Peace and Mental Health Boundaries as Educators and Administrators »
Quotes:
“Teaching is a delicate profession, surrounded by pressure, and we must navigate through this delicacy and pressure with grace and sensibility.”
“Teachers can see the average evaluation as ‘You are average,’ but that is not the full truth.”
“Teachers are just one person trying to do the best they can to give value and to feel valued with many factors out of their control.”
“Teaching is a microcosm of life, and it encompasses the emotions of life from joy to fulfillment to disappointment to grief.
“Knowing students’ painful stories—being brought into these stories—is an honor in that teachers can help support the student. It doesn’t mean the stories aren’t heavy for the teacher to carry.”
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