Burn out: It All Started In The Garden Of Eden

This article may hit more people than just AV teachers. I think it's a problem that transcends topics. I’m no longer in the classroom. My wife is. My best friends are. My not so good friends are. Even people I don’t like are in the classroom. As you know, anytime teachers get together, the topic always turns to school so I spend a lot of time talking about school and the pressures teachers are under. 

I love teachers. I am more than just a fan. I joke that when it comes to AV teachers, I may or may not have a baseball card collection of my favorite teachers. This year has felt very different when I talk with teachers. The pressure is starting to build. Our veteran teachers are counting the days to retirement. Our new teachers are jumping ship immediately and honestly, I think the teachers in the middle are only hanging on because of guilt and fear. It truly breaks my heart. 

The pressures that are being put on teachers unfortunately are completely natural and have been growing since the first classroom. There are two causes for this - Parkinson's Law and the Bible. 

I will start with the easiest part to explain - the Bible. This realization occurred to me during a church service where the conversation about placing undue pressure on yourself was essentially the topic. It hit me that putting undue pressure on ourselves and others actually started in the Garden Of Eden. 

In Genesis 2, Adam is taken to the garden and given specific instructions: 

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

In the simplest terms, Adam was instructed to work the garden and not eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge. That’s it. Here’s the catch… Later, when Eve is tempted by the snake in Genesis 3 she says: 

“We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

Did you catch it? It’s easy to miss… Eve put new rules on Adam and herself. She added that “you must not touch it.” That wasn’t what the rules were. The rule was don’t EAT the fruit. 

Now let’s apply that to our world of education…a world steered by rules and rulers. 

What does this look like in 90% of the schools I work with: 

• The superintendent is worried about classroom performance and wants to see ways to hold schools accountable for the quality of lessons. 

• The Chief Academic Officer comes up with a plan that schools need to work with teachers to develop a plan to better show what they are teaching. 

• The Principal thinks the best way to do this is to have teachers submit lesson plans. 

• The Assistant Principal over curriculum thinks the best way to do that is to have teachers to submit daily lesson plans.

• The Curriculum Specialist thinks the best way to do daily lesson plans is to make sure to show the essential question on the lesson plan and the write board each day. 

• The department chair thinks the teachers need to also show every element of their lesson plans down to the minute to show that they are teaching bell to bell

• The teacher adds that each element needs a clearly described transition is added to the lesson plan. 

It didn’t take long to go from “what are schools doing” to the teacher spending 5-10 hours a week working on lesson plans. Usually those 5-10 hours are outside of contract hours because planning has been filled with meetings - more on that later. 

Now Parkinson’s Law….

I was first made aware of Parkinson’s Law when Vicki Michaelis from the University Of Georgia were discussing why student packages are always turned in at the last minute. Michaelis said to me “ the work always fills the time.” Essentially if you have 8 hours to do a 2 hour project, it will take 8 hours… Conversely, if you have 2 hours to do 8 hours of work, it will take 2 hours. 

That’s not the part of Parkinson’s Law that I want to focus on though it could be pertinent. I want to focus on the division of labor portion of Parkinson’s Law. 

In a nutshell, Parkinson’s Law states that if someone feels overworked (real or not), they are going to ask to hire two people (it’s a fascinating read as to why). Then those two people are going to eventually feel overworked and they too are going to ask to hire two people. You can see how quickly that gets out of hand - If not, go to a major school system and look at their org chart… 

Now, pair Parkinson's Law with what I shared about the Garden Of Eden… Education leadership is quickly becoming bloated. There are a few decision makers at the top, a ton of middle men/women, and fewer and fewer teachers. This means that there are a lot of “Eve’s” adding rules. Rules typically lead to meetings so the rule makers can make sure you are following their rules. Meetings usually lead to the need for preparation as well as action items. 

Extrapolate that across all of the “Eve’s” in education and now planning periods are “data meetings,” “collaborative plannings,” “standard reviews,” “test prep sessions,” and faculty meetings (under the guise of not wanting to take your time after school…). That’s 5 different meetings each week which leaves planning to be put on the backburner a.k.a. Sunday night… 

Now that the problem has been clearly identified, what can you do? 

I think the first thing I hope you understand is that you are not alone. It’s across all schools, all classrooms, everywhere - it’s not right but that’s the case. 

Second, I can not implore you enough to take care of you. These pressures both external and internal will break you down. You MUST carve time out of your day for you. I’m not talking 10-15 minutes - I’m talking hours! Exercise, watch tv, talk on the phone… It just doesn't work! Seriously, I see so many teachers who are so unhealthy physically and mentally it makes me so sad. As I told someone last week, “If you work yourself to death, they will have a $10/hr sub in your room tomorrow - or worse a colleague to cover your class, which they may prefer over going to another meeting - but you aren’t replaceable for your family” 

Next, this is the hardest thing to do for most:  Accept that good enough is good enough. You know what you are teaching. Do the minimum on your lesson plans. Don’t spend hours trying to impress someone who most likely isn’t going to read your plans… Do you really think they read them all? They don’t. I imagine only 10-20% get read in a week… If they want times, put some times in there. BUT TOM, WHAT IF THEY COME OBSERVE ME AND MY PLANS ARE NOT ACCURATE? So? Are you teaching? Are students under control? Are they learning things? - That’s your job. Micromanaging yourself isn’t in your job description - leave that to the Admin. 

Finally, one of the biggest things that I found to keep myself sane and I share with as many teachers as possible is to care for other teachers. It’s so rewarding that it feels wrong. I used to walk around when I could and would just drop in and talk with teachers. This was how I made sure I didn’t sit in my silo and sulk. It lead to some of the best conversations and some of the best relationships. I can’t tell you how many times I talked with a teacher who needed a shoulder to cry on and I was able to just be there. That’s super rewarding. I have found that helping is a great way to heal. 

I hope you read this article during a meeting that should have been an email and that it helps you see that what you are experiencing is not foreign to teachers. It’s actually universal. Take care of yourself and remember that you are worth far more than you realize and the kids need you more than your admin needs your essential questions posted on the board.

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Meet the Author, Tom White

Tom White is the Education and House of Worship Specialist at Amitrace. Tom's role is to help educators build better programs through better training, planning, and equipment. Before joining Amitrace, Tom was the Broadcast Engineer at Grady College of Journalism and Communication at the University of Georgia. Prior to that role, Tom taught at Morgan County High School and Rockdale Career Academy where he and his student produced thousands of live streams for sports, news, and community events. Tom is a member of the SkillsUSA Georgia Board of Directors and also serves as a contest tech chair for SkillsUSA Alabama and Tennessee.

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