Cult of Pedagogy Search

“We’re a Family” and Other School Norms that Can Cause Burnout

Close

Can't find what you are looking for? Contact Us


Listen to my interview with Angela Watson (transcript):

Sponsored by Pear Deck and The Teacher’s Guide to Tech


This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.


The first time my principal asked me to take on the role of yearbook sponsor, I said no. In the upcoming school year, I would be teaching 130 seventh graders, and all five of my preps would be writing classes. Back then our state had formally assessed writing portfolios in seventh grade, and I was responsible for getting all of them done. It was a notoriously difficult teaching position, and I was actually excited to take it on, but I knew it would be even more time-consuming than other years had been, and adding yearbook responsibilities would put the workload way over the top.

So when he asked, I kind of grimaced and I said I’d rather not. Then I asked if there wasn’t someone else who could do it.

It turned out there wasn’t. Together, sitting in his office, we mentally checked off the rest of the faculty: If they weren’t coaching a sport, they were sponsoring an extracurricular activity or doing some other “extra” thing. Or they were brand-new. Or a year away from retirement. Or pregnant and heading toward maternity leave. After a few silent moments, I finally said what we were both thinking: “So if I don’t do it, then someone has to take on a second extracurricular.”

He shrugged. “Or we just don’t have a yearbook this year.”

And that’s when—surprise!—I became the new yearbook sponsor. Despite my gut telling me it was a bad idea, I agreed to do it. And over the next two years I did school work 2-3 hours every night, plus another 8 to 10 hours over the weekend, just to keep up. What else was I going to do? The reality of our school was that the workload always exceeded the labor force, so if we didn’t all do more than was reasonable, then someone was going to suffer: either our colleagues or the kids. And who wanted that?

Unfortunately, this scenario is probably all too familiar to many of you. In fact, some of you might even be thinking, “He just wanted you to sponsor ONE extracurricular? You ONLY had 130 students?? You had it easy.”

Anyone who has ever taught even one year knows that teachers are always being asked to do more, to squeeze more into less time, to multitask and juggle and figure it out because that’s what teachers do. You cut back on sleep, eat more fast food, skip workouts, spend less time with family and friends, generally spend less time on all the things that the experts tell us are necessary for a good, healthy life to make room for school-related work. And even though so many educators recognize that this is an unsustainable system, the system holds steady.

Except for one problem: Every year, thousands of outstanding, talented, passionate teachers are leaving the classroom. Although the reasons may vary, many teachers I’ve known have left because they got to the point where they had to choose between quality of life and their job, and ultimately they chose quality of life, even if it meant taking on less meaningful work.

On top of these high attrition rates, the number of people entering the profession has dropped sharply over the past few decades, so that means every year, we have fewer and fewer teachers available to fill the classrooms where our students so desperately need them.

So maybe the system isn’t holding so steady after all. And if it’s not going to collapse entirely, one thing that’s got to change is this idea that teachers should be willing to pick up the slack all the time, no matter what. That if we’re not willing, even eager to do this, then clearly we don’t really care about kids or about our colleagues. And that message—which is conveyed to us in all kinds of subtle ways—is what we’re going to talk about here.

Angela Watson

To explore this issue, I’m getting help from Angela Watson. Angela has done more than anyone I know to try to solve the problem of teacher burnout, and she’s made a ton of progress in that area. Over the last few years, her incredibly popular 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club has helped thousands of teachers take their lives back without leaving teaching.

And now, in her new book, Fewer Things, Better, she is encouraging teachers to stop trying to do it all, to get clear on what really matters and focus most of your energy on those things.

But doing that requires us to change the way we think about things, the way we hear certain messages. Let’s look at how three common school norms—”We’re a family,” “Do it for the kids, no matter what,” and “Be a team player”—can all contribute to teacher burnout, and how we can start pushing back on these messages.

The Messages

“We’re a family.”

This message is usually meant to make teachers feel like their school is a warm, supportive environment, and in many cases, that may be as far as it goes. But sometimes it may also end up manipulating them into doing an unreasonable amount of work.

“When we hear that being said to us,” Angela says, “particularly by someone who is in a position of authority above us, we need to stop and ask, What’s the intent? What’s the impact? Is this being said to make me feel loved and supported like a family? Or is it being used to exploit me for unpaid labor? I think the school family analogy can be used to manipulate you into doing all kinds of unpaid extra duties, so it can be code for ‘You’re expected to spend all your free time going above and beyond with no compensation.’

“You’re irreplaceable to your family,” she continues, “but your school can hire someone else to take your place within a week. So I encourage teachers to question this internally when you hear it. And when you’re choosing which words to use yourself, consider finding a term that’s a little bit less loaded. I like the phrase ‘school community.’ In a community you have a responsibility to work together and be cohesive, but you don’t have all that baggage and implied guilt trip of letting your family down.”

“Do it for the kids, no matter what.”

Angela’s thinking about this phrase shifted about a year ago when she read Seth Nichols’ piece, Why Teachers Are Walking Out. Nichols pointed out that in education, where so much of the leadership is male and the vast majority of the employees are female, teachers may go along with unreasonable expectations because if they don’t, they risk being seen as uncaring.

“(Nichols) observed how the teachers around him would do whatever it took to prove that they are good caretakers and good nurturers,” Angela explains. “He called it the Woman’s Honor Code: Do it for the kids no matter the cost.”

Obviously all teachers care about kids, she says, “but the problem is that teachers’ pure intentions and genuine desire to make a difference have been exploited, because the powers that be know that if the school doesn’t provide what kids need to thrive, we as educators will pick up the slack. We will work dozens of unpaid hours every week, we will make our materials from scratch, we will spend money from our own paychecks. We’ll neglect our health, our relationships, our home, even our own kids because we need to do whatever it takes for students. And for many of us there’s no clear alternative, because no teacher wants to feel like they’re short-changing kids.”

A healthier message? It’s perfectly reasonable to be there for the kids and the paycheck. “It’s not a volunteer position when you’re supposed to be there for purely altruistic reasons and nothing else. You can enjoy making a difference and also enjoy paying your mortgage. Those two outcomes are not mutually exclusive.”

In the end, Angela says, making ourselves a priority along with the kids will keep more good teachers in the classroom.

“Teachers should have the opportunity to be fully actualized human beings who have career aspirations and hobbies and hopes and dreams, apart from just sowing into the lives of other people’s children. We can’t agree to just do whatever it takes at any cost, because the cost is our physical and mental health, our marriages and relationships and children and parents. (Often) the students suffer, because we’re so overwhelmed and overworked that we can’t show up as the best version of ourselves, and many of us ultimately decide the sacrifice is not sustainable.”

“Be a team player.”

This call to action, Angela says, is most often used when people are being asked to give unpaid labor. “Lesson planning and grading papers,” she says, “that’s your job, what you’re paid to do. So no one ever says be a team player, grade your papers, right? It’s when you’re being asked to do things that aren’t part of the core of your job.

“So for example, your school deserves aides to handle supervision duties during non-instructional time. So you shouldn’t be pressured to do lunch and recess and cafeteria and bus and hallway duty. Because when are those things happening? It’s during your planning or your prep time. That’s when you’re supposed to be focused on your real job, which is planning and preparing lessons and assessing student work. But instead you’re mopping the cafeteria floor, because there’s no one else to do it. And you want to be seen as a team player. So all the stuff that would really move the needle for your students either doesn’t get done or it gets done on your own time for free in the evening.”

Does this mean a teacher should never pick up a piece of trash in the hallway? Of course not. “Everyone has to do things that aren’t in their job description,” Angela says. “But I think awareness is really the most important step.”

So…We’re All Being Brainwashed?

Talking to Angela about this situation, I never got the impression that she felt administrators were trying to deliberately fool teachers or that their promotion of a student-centered, family-like school culture was somehow disingenuous. These norms have been passed down for generations, and for many schools, she says, they have become survival mechanisms. “They’re so underfunded, so under-resourced and understaffed and the only way to function with what they’re given is if everyone buys into this mentality that they’re part of the school family and they need to do whatever it takes and be a team player.”

And it’s not just school leadership that perpetuates these norms. Teachers reinforce them with each other every day. “We all prop up this system,” she says. “We are complicit in this system, and I include myself in that, because I’ve done it myself for 11 years in the classroom.” Being the teacher who is willing to go the extra mile makes us look good, and that creates a competitive environment where everyone is expected to go well beyond their job description.

On top of that, there’s the risk of hurting your colleagues if you’re not pulling more than your weight; this fear keeps us from supporting each other. “If you say no, then who’s going to have to pick up the slack? Me. So I’m afraid. If you create boundaries for yourself, what kind of impact is that going to have on me?”

Ways to Push Back

1. Speak Up with Solutions

“I think a lot of teachers are afraid to speak up,” Angela says, “because they don’t want to be seen as the angry teacher, or they don’t want to be the one who’s always complaining. And that’s for good reason, because we’ve seen colleagues get blackballed for being negative.”

But if we speak up and provide a viable solution, things tend to go much better.

“If you go to your administrator in a professional, solution-oriented way, your ‘complaint’ can actually turn you into one of the most valuable members of the faculty, because most people are just going to be talking about the problem to each other.

“But if you can approach the principal directly with actual solutions, not just saying, ‘This is unacceptable, you need to fix it,’ but say, ‘Hey, we both know the situation isn’t ideal. So I’ve been trying to brainstorm some alternative approaches here, and I would love to be able to share some of them with you.’ If you can do that, you’re either going to lead the discussion, getting something closer to what you want or you’re going to have a better understanding of all the limitations and extenuating circumstances. And either way, you’re going to have more information about how to create change.”

2. Support Others Who Speak Up

If you’re not quite ready to advocate for change personally, you can be more vocal and visible about supporting those who do.

“I think in every school there are a handful of teachers who feel like they’re the ones doing all the heavy lifting,” Angela says. “They’re the ones that all the other teachers go to when they’re upset, and when they want something changed, they go to this handful of people who are not afraid to be outspoken.

“And what I hear from those teachers is that they are tired of being the only ones with their necks on the chopping block all the time. What they really want is for other teachers to stand with them.

“So maybe you don’t want to lead the change on a particular issue. But if another teacher is speaking up on it, show them support. If the discussion’s happening online, retweet it, share it, comment on it. If it’s happening in the staff meeting, nod, affirm, raise your hand, add an additional point to let your colleagues know you are with that person rather than just thanking them afterward.”

3. Quiet Subversion

If you think a problem just can’t be solved, you’re in a situation where communication between staff and leadership has broken down, or you just don’t have the energy to put up a fight, another solution is to simply subvert the system.

“Teachers are being expected to do an increasing number of things that really aren’t good for kids and that are completely burning them out,” Angela says. “You can’t face every problem head on, because there’s just too many of them. You do have to pick your battles.

“But you don’t have to just suck it up when it comes to all the other issues. I think that a lot of teachers are rule-followers. We want to do things right. We want to be seen as caring and committed and dedicated. And so not doing what we’ve been told is just not even a consideration. It’s not even on the table. There’s a lot of fear placed in the heart of teachers that they’re going to be pink-slipped or blackballed if they don’t do what they’re told.

“But all the best teachers that I know are quietly subverting the system. They will smile and nod, and then they will close the door and they will do what’s best for kids. They will document stuff on paper like they’re supposed to, and then that teachable moment comes up, and they run with it whenever they can. And I just want that to be said here publicly, because obviously someone who’s employed by a school district is going to be really reluctant to announce that they’re doing that.

“And that’s why people think it’s not happening. That’s why when you look at those teachers that you admire and you wonder, ‘How are they doing all that awesome stuff? How are they making everything work?’ They’ve either found the school that is a good fit for their values, and they have a little bit more freedom, which I think is often true for some of the more visible educators online, or in the majority of cases they’re being quietly subversive.

“And both of those options, by the way, are available to every person listening to this. A myth that I really try hard to debunk is this disempowering mode we tend to fall into where it’s like, ‘I don’t have a choice.’ You do have a choice. You are a trained professional who brings a tremendous amount of wisdom and insight and life experience to the profession. So you can choose to make some sacrifices and find a school where you can thrive. You can find something that is a better fit for you. It’s your career, it’s your life.

“And if you choose to stay where you’re at, you don’t just have to do everything you’re told if what you’re being told is not best for teachers or kids. The most effective teachers I know are not blindly following orders. They are quietly subverting the system.”

It’s well intended, a phrase like “We’re a family.” And we should all feel like we work in places where everyone cares about the kids and pitches in as a team. But if teachers want to be treated as professionals and given the time and space to do this work well and live healthy lives, it might be time to look at these messages with a more critical eye.


We’ve only scratched the surface of all Angela does to help teachers bring balance to their lives. You can learn more in her book, Fewer Things, Better, or by joining the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club.


Come back for more.
Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You’ll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined—come on in.

41 Comments

  1. Wow, thank you for thoughtfully sharing about the work culture experienced by many teachers. Teaching for 10 years, I always find it interesting when friends in fields outside of education share workplace grievances that are one time occurrences for them, but are norms in education.

    • Meaghan says:

      I love the solution oriented proactive approach. Everything you are describing is not limited to teachers but is experienced by health care providers, architects, advertising ( vampire hours) ; private equity; venture capitalists; small business owners… do more for or with less. I like the idea of getting creative and finding alternatives. 40 hour work week is made up.. if we follow tradition; we get paid a salary for 2080 hours over 12 months with 8 paid holidays and two weeks vacation. For teacher ‘s you are looking at 180 days with vacation / holidays. The question becomes… what is possible in the time we have with the resources available?

  2. Gary Eisenberg says:

    Nice discussion of the dark side of “We’re a Family”. I agree with you! Now how about a discussion of the light side. My elementary school had the light side of family. K-6, we had each other’s backs at all times. We listened to each other vent, and shared any and all curriculum and class management tips. We knew each other’s kids and celebrated our birthdays to the max. Visitors to our school and other teachers in our district always commented that there was a different feeling at our school. Many were envious of the closeness that we all had. When asked what our secret was, we answered, “We’re family!” Our administrator was part of it and would never think of exploiting us.
    Just wanted to share the other side of “We’re Family”

    • Jennie says:

      YES! You nailed it on the head, all of it. Teachers are rule followers. The women in particularly often have unhealthy emotional investments in being seen as nurturing and caring. Teachers themselves are complicit in the downward spiral of the system because they create a competitive environment by agreeing to do more than each other. The ones who are still doing this impossible job well are actually regularly and quietly subverting the system.

      I spent 10 years as support staff and barely 3 months as a classroom teacher before burning out. What was being asked of me as a licensed professional with a master’s degree was so far beyond reasonable and so outside of anything that could be considered professional that I broke contract to resign my position and will never go back. I am actually baffled about why attrition rates aren’t higher. I don’t know why anyone agrees to sacrifice themselves, their health, their relationships this way for such a system but I’m watching my friends do it every day.
      Thank you for writing this. And thank you for pointing out that the good teachers are good because they are subverting the system not obeying it!!

    • Ryan says:

      I’m mostly in line with what the cult puts forward but this episode stung. I think it is because I too exist in a school like your school. We spend more waking hours at work then at home. Why live in the world they described in the podcast instead of turning it into the work world we would want and thrive in, which has the support of a family?
      Thanks for sharing!

  3. Patty says:

    I’m not a teacher. But, I find that the “We are a family” gets abused from administration to teachers and then from teachers to families. I have a very difficult child, I get that it’s frustrating to be his teacher. But, when the teacher is reluctant to do what my child needs the teacher to do….which is act professionally and not take my child’s actions personally….and I bring the teacher my concerns, the teacher replies with, “we are a family”. I feel that makes an excuse for the teacher to behave less than professionally, yet the teacher is a professional who I expect to work professionally with my child. I am my child’s family, and the teacher is not our family.

    • Miahail says:

      I realize that not all teachers act professionally (which negatively impacts all of us), but what I know for sure is that as teachers we are always trying to find a way to “soften the blow” to parents when we have a particularly difficult child to report back on – and it DOES take family support to move forward. I often reach out to my parents to help with behavior and remind them that we are all working together for their child and the good of our whole community. We ARE raising these kids together. Teachers spend more awake time with children then their parents during school days, yet are expected to handle everything with kid gloves. I ask you, what do you do when your child constantly disrespects you or ignores your redirection? When they talk back? When they put on a show for 28 other people? When they flip your furniture or destroy your belongings? It scares other kids and at the same time shows other kids that there are limited consequences to treating others poorly or disrespecting adults. I call it the “riot mentality”, when one child can instigate a whole classroom of poor behavior. The teacher likely has tried everything in their toolbox – everything they are allowed to do to get your child to move forward. Frustrating does not cover it. You cannot get your job done as a teacher when a difficult child acts up. Then you face a poor rating when the kids do not show enough growth. I dare any non-teacher to see if they could get their jobs accomplished if every single person they worked with was needy and didn’t follow rules or guidelines.
      When a difficult child struggles in a general education classroom it impacts ALL of the children, their learning time, and even their behavior. Children who cannot function within social norms have a great impact on those around them. Sounds like your child’s teacher is reaching out for your support and you are responding the way most parents do these days – like the “paid” babysitter mustn’t be a good teacher because they had the nerve to bother you at home. I have one rule in my classroom: Don’t be a problem for another person. News flash… teachers are people too. Very sad.

  4. Great article! I definitely didn’t take this as a “dark side” article. As a matter of fact, you gave differing perspectives. Just because something works for others, doesn’t mean it is the same for others.
    And you are right, there are teachers being exploited because this is a female dominated profession.Teachers suffer from the Matyr syndrome and burn themselves out trying to keep up with society’s notion of what a teacher should be. #selfcare

  5. Kris Cerone says:

    “We are a family,” was often said at the school I recently retired. Under my breath I would say, “this family lives in disfunction junction.” I felt if I did not go to the extra meetings and particpate in the outside activites (all not paid) and do the extra little things around the school I would not been seen as loyal, dedicate and hardworking. What you call quietly subverting the system I called doing the minimum necessary to justify providing the required paper work. Correct, not all battles are worth fighting, keep your goals in mind. Thank you for dispelling this myth If I had it to do over again…

  6. Hi Jenn, I’ve yet to pick up Angela’s books but will do so, soon. For the present, I’m invested in more of the academic side of teacher prep, but I know I’ll need Angela’s advice in addition to yours to understand the teaching and school culture I’ll soon join. In the meantime though, I’d wonder if you can add more context to her “subverting the system” idea. I think I understand what this means — in my corporate career I became somewhat expert at it — but I don’t quite understand what is the “teachable moment” to which Angela refers in your interview. It’s a bit of a cliffhanger for me.

    Teacher nods and smiles, closes the door and does what’s best for her students. Documents everything . . . what exactly does she document? Then, she runs with it whenever she can. Runs where? Does what?

    What does this move look like?

    • Hi there, Scott, sorry for the cliffhanger! There’s a lot more in the book, but I can give you a quick example here.

      I once worked at a school where we were given 3 math workbooks for our third graders, and were expected to have students complete a page in each one every day. If I had my kids do 3 math worksheets daily, I wouldn’t have had time to actually teach the concepts. I explained this to my AP (who was a good instructional leader in many other regards) and he said they’d spent a lot of money on them and didn’t want it wasted.

      So, I wrote the corresponding workbook pages in my lesson plans each day. But I rarely had my kids do more than 1 of them. The kids were familiar with all 3 workbooks and were seen using them during walk-throughs, so nothing looked “off” on the surface.

      Had anyone ever noticed or questioned the blank pages in our workbooks, I would have said we frequently ran out of time for all of them, but that students had completed at least one workbook page for every skill, and then shown what we had used our class time on instead (math partner games, hands-on activities, projects, etc.) and the documented student progress as a result of those instructional choices.

      However, this justification was never necessary because my kids were making solid learning gains. That was the desired outcome. Doing 3 workbook pages daily was the way we were told to achieve that outcome, but since my method was effective, I was able to get away with it.

      Lots of the most effective teachers are doing things like this but aren’t announcing it publicly because it could jeopardize their employment. I’m only able to admit this now because I work outside the system.

      • Stacy says:

        Angela,
        Thank you. It makes me feel better knowing someone else has done this. My school is ALL “family” and pressure to make test score gains, competition in PLC’s, and Data… should also be included in burnout. I am a good teacher. My scores show growth. The pressure has never been higher. This is my 19th year. I am ready to leave. But.. I have done this so long? I don’t know what I would even do. 🙂

    • Anon says:

      This episode was…cute. It is all based on the fact that teachers actually have a voice.

      There is another group of teachers hired from overseas who have to basically put up with any moronic idea the school or district administrators think of because of the fear they have of losing their jobs.

      This is why it is virtually impossible for districts who rely on foreign teachers to face any organized opposition because no matter how many native teachers refuse to give away their time, health, or money, there will always be a group of teachers who have to give up their time, health, and money.

  7. Oh, and I should add–there is usually (though not always) an alignment between what’s best for teachers and what’s best for kids. Finding that alignment is key.

    In this case, I knew it was the right choice because it benefited both me and my students. My colleagues were drowning in papers. (Can you imagine grading 3 workbooks every day for every student just for this ONE subject, while also grading papers for reading, writing, social studies, and science??)

    I had 1/3 of the papers to grade, and my kids got more meaningful learning experiences. When policies can’t be changed, this is the kind of quiet subversion that keeps the way we do school from burning out teachers AND children.

  8. Brendan McGowan says:

    I just want to say that I really enjoy your work. You are doing a great job of addressing relevant topics for teachers. As an Instructional Coach and ELA teacher, I find the information you present to be engaging and inspiring. You often tackle topics that I am working on in my own practice with my colleagues. Keep up the great work! Thank you.

  9. Susan Kimmerlein says:

    As a 30-year veteran of high school English classroom teaching, I can certainly relate to the hypocrisy your “We are Family” article addresses. I have heard, “We love our teachers” many times in my district while I watch the district-level administration cut positions at every level of staffing (except the administrative staff, of course). I have seen too many initiatives implemented in my district that reflect a lack of trust in our professional judgment. I have had to participate in burdensome evaluation systems that don’t seem to improve teaching. Often, the one evaluating me has a fraction of the years of experience in the classroom that I have had.

    All that being said, I do see an authentic aspect of the “we are family” mentality, and that is within my department. We are there for each other whether it is sharing materials, helping set things up when an unexpected absence occurs, covering a first-period class for a colleague who is recently widowed and having a rough morning, or just being there to listen when someone is having a bad day. Having at least a pocket of authentically caring colleagues helps you stay sane in the midst of the sometimes maddening bureaucracy, unreasonable workload, and emotionally draining work of teaching. I see that caring side in the young administrators within my building, too. They, unfortunately, have to answer to the district level more directly. Maybe in time they, too, will find the right opportunities to “be subversive” on occasion.

  10. Danny says:

    NO! I am sorry but I wholeheartedly reject the premise of your article. Yes we are asked to do a lot- but that is NOT while the attrition rate is so high and growing. The teaching crisis in this country has ONE cause and ONE solution. We don’t need studies, we don’t need less “extra” stuff we need A LIVING WAGE. When I do something extra I choose to do it because I want to, I want to help. If I leave it won’t be because of that it will be because I cannot support my family on this ridiculously low wage.

    • Mitch says:

      Danny you’re right but it’s not the only reason. Angela’s right that schools should be hiring dedicated staff for some things rather than stretching teachers further and further. Both of these are workplace issues, and both those problems still have the same solution: teachers need to work collectively, not just for their wages but for a broader set of goals that revolve around school funding.

    • Danny, salary is indeed a major component of teacher attrition. However, Jennifer is also very right about the amount of extra activities and responsibilities that teachers are “encouraged” to take on, with minimal or no stipends for their service.

      Additionally, there are other major reasons for teachers leaving in droves that contradict the “we are family” slogans that ring throughout school corridors. And each one is as valid as your point about living wages.

  11. Elizabeth H says:

    This podcast was what I needed to hear. I got fired on the first day ofy new job Monday at a non-profit. I had quit the public schools for obvious reasons. When I got fired the reason that was cited was “I’m concerned you’re not committed to the cause”. When I pressed it came out to be that basically I had let them know I value a strong work life balance and I value my time, but this was contrary to the “all-in” nature of the person they wanted to hire.

    If I hadn’t heard this podcast, I’d probably be more down on myself. But I’m proud of myself for being truthful with them. I’m glad I dodged the work 60 hours a week for 40 hrs pay trap. In the short term it did make me feel like I wasn’t committed enough, but then I realized in their eyes I’m not good enough, but in my eyes, I certainly am.

    Thanks again Jennifer and Angela!! I feel confident now knowing that all the hard work I’ve put in is valuable, and I don’t have to put my mental health on the line if someone doesn’t want to value it.

    • Eric Wenninger says:

      Thanks for sharing Elizabeth. I’m sorry to hear your job with the non-profit didn’t work out. I hope you soon find meaningful work that allows you to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

  12. Randy Guptill says:

    I liked the “subversion” part. I was teaching in a middle school (band), and was told by my “team leader” students were not allowed to go to the restroom during electives. (Smile, nod, let my kids go anyway.) I was told I had to walk my 7th grade students from my room to the 7th grade hall. First day, we march heavily chanting “Yo Ee Oh! Ohhhh Oh!” a la “Wizard of Oz”, second day, we march whistling “Colonel Bogey, third day, we skip down the hall singing the Smurf Song. Fourth day, I’m told my kids can walk to the 7th grade hall on their own.

  13. Mitch says:

    Long time listener, first time commenter. I think all of Angela’s points are sharp, especially identifying them as systemic problems over unpaid labor. The thing is, I think individual solutions can never make up for systemic problems. The wiggle-room tactics are a good start, but ultimately it all comes down to resources that the administration doesn’t have: money. Teachers need to retake their unions and fight not just for contracts, but for school funding and programs for the students! This has been a huge part of the WV, OK, SF, and Oakland strikes–really, it’s what makes these strikes so different, so successful, and so effective in gaining public support. I think that if we don’t find collective solutions, the situation is only going to get worse and the wiggle room will just shrink further and further. I don’t think it’s right to talk about unpaid labor, burnout, and attrition without at least recognizing the most successful things teachers have been doing are collective.

  14. MsT says:

    Thanks, great article. As a specialist in education for social justice, let me add this: When a school community claims to function as a “family”, people are going to look at who is in that “family”. Are the faces mostly white? Is the “family” mostly inclusive of able-bodied, heterosexual, affluent, English-speaking etc members? Families are exclusive in ways that public institutions are not supposed to be. A lot of people respond to the “family”metaphor by deciding “this isn’t my family”. A more professional approach can feel more welcoming.

  15. We will never be able to do whats best for kids if we are not in a good place! Our job is to take care kids but the administration (our district) is responsible for taking care of us so we can do our job and they are not doing this! By asking us to do more with less every year they are treating us as valueless! We have to stand up and say NO!

  16. Wonderful article with informative, well though out, and practical reasoning for us all to apply every day. Thank you for digging deep and putting this out there for us all to see.

  17. Stacie says:

    I love this post! My school says this all the time! We are a family, we need to help each other out! I love my co-workers, but sometimes I feel like I am always around doing things and they have personal lives! How do you suggest ensuring that we take time for ourselves? I have had people tell me to take one day during the weekend to not work on anything for school, but it is so hard to stick with that when I know how much I have to do! When do you find time to complete everything if you do not come in early or come in during the weekend?

    I also like how you discussed how everyone is faced with adding more to their plate, not just teachers. Sometimes I worry if I complain too much about everything that needs to be done, and I need to switch my mindset to a solution-based response rather than a complaint!

    Thanks for your insights!

    • For many of us, taking time for ourselves is really hard to do! Here are some resources that can help you save time, which means more time for yourself. See what you think!

      Overwhelmed? Do 5 Things.
      Letter to an Overachiever
      Speed Up Grading with Rubric Codes
      5 Powerful Ways to Save Time as a Teacher

      • Stacie says:

        Thank you, Debbie! This is exactly what I needed! With starting grad school and balancing a new curriculum, I am completely overwhelmed. For my whole life, I have been an A student. However, I tell my students that the B they received was great because they improved so much and tried their best. One of my students overheard me complaining about my 92% in one of my classes and how worried I was about failing the class. He told me, “It’s okay, Miss Leeds. You tried your best. But, now you know how we feel.” Game changer! Thanks for the resources. I am definitely implementing these!

  18. great article:

    I found this observation to be especially interesting:

    “But all the best teachers that I know are quietly subverting the system. They will smile and nod, and then they will close the door and they will do what’s best for kids. They will document stuff on paper like they’re supposed to, and then that teachable moment comes up, and they run with it whenever they can. And I just want that to be said here publicly, because obviously someone who’s employed by a school district is going to be really reluctant to announce that they’re doing that.

    “And that’s why people think it’s not happening. That’s why when you look at those teachers that you admire and you wonder, ‘How are they doing all that awesome stuff? How are they making everything work?’ They’ve either found the school that is a good fit for their values, and they have a little bit more freedom, which I think is often true for some of the more visible educators online, or in the majority of cases they’re being quietly subversive. ”

    Do you have data on what percentage of teachers are subversive?

    what a sorry state of affairs when doing right by the students means breaking the rules and putting your job at risk. I’m not surprised though because it describes more and more my life as a college professor.

  19. Chandraneev says:

    Came across your blog very recently, and have been reading some of the posts. This one hit really close to home, especially since all three norms are something that I’m struggling with. Thanks for voicing them, and of course, the alternatives are helpful.

    • Margaret Harris-Shoates says:

      I’m glad this post was helpful for you, Chandraneev! I will pass on your comments to Jenn.

  20. Louder for the people in the back!

    I had a “family” principal tellthat we need to love our students MORE THAN OUR OWN CHILDREN

  21. Prathy says:

    Thank you for speaking these things out loud.
    Another I would add – is the comparison trap – the teacher of the year or best teacher ever who changed lives. There are those teachers – but trying to aim to be or being compared creates this underlying unhealthy competition between teachers. I think it affects ability to collaborate as professionals.
    Thanks again

  22. AS says:

    Omg thank you for this article! This is what I’ve been saying for years and what made teaching special education unbearable. I felt like I could almost hang on but then we’d also be asked so much more.

    • Margaret Harris-Shoates says:

      Thanks for sharing your experience – I hope the post gave you some helpful strategies to navigate what you’ve been facing. Jenn will be glad to know the post resonated with you!

  23. Samantha says:

    Thank you for this post! I am new to the world of education, as I am working through my pre-service teaching right now. There were a few things about this post that really struck me. The first was about how many people view teaching as a “calling,” and that if you don’t pour everything you have into it, you aren’t doing enough. I believe I was called to teaching, but I don’t think I can give everything I have to it because then I would have nothing left for myself and my family and friends. However, that doesn’t mean that I won’t care about my students with everything that I have while I’m at school. I know I will love my students and do everything I can to help them while they are with me. I also know that I cannot carry that with me every minute of every day. That’s draining and will cause me to burn out.

    The second thing that struck me was about questioning the intention behind those questions and comments. The message of “We’re a family” doesn’t necessarily have bad intentions, but it can be extremely manipulative. I like the use of the word “community” much more. I think it’s good to question things no matter what your profession is. In my career before pursuing education I had to question a lot of things and do what I thought was right in order to take care of myself and my colleagues. To go along with this, you mentioned supporting those who ARE speaking up, and I think that is SO important.

    The idea that teaching requires more than the same 40 hours that every other job requires is baffling to me. I understand it requires a certain kind of dedication, but I don’t think that has to mean that we all need to work 50-60 hours a week. That is not a sustainable lifestyle. Also, we don’t expect that of most people working in industry or other jobs, so why do we expect it of our teachers? I believe there is a way to care deeply about this profession while also understanding that it is simply a job (I know that seems over-simplified, but it’s the best way I can put it). Work-life balance is so important, and I believe the more we teach our educators how to find it, the less likely it will be to see teachers leaving the field at such a rapid pace.

    • Margaret Harris-Shoates says:

      Thanks for sharing these thoughts, Samantha! Jenn will be so glad to know that this post resonated with you. I wish you all the best in your new teaching journey!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.