DL - Teacher Burnout

[Anonymous]

I work as a digital events specialist and I would like to address the issue of teacher burnout while teaching online FT. I see this type of burnout in my own industry frequently, however it is easier to be flexible and take time to recharge. Most of our teachers have not been trained to teach in a digital environment full-time very day. Teaching online requires vastly different energy utilization and I feel that the the current proposed teaching schedules will cause massive burnout for many of our teachers.

The learning environment for our children will be completely different and each child will have a different way of adapting to this new environment and the teacher will need to adjust to this new learning environment and be able to assist their students as well as parents. The facilitation of content will be different and teachers will need to be flexible to adjust if necessary. Parents will be able to observe and question teaching styles and this may cause additional stress for teachers. Keep in mind, contrary to my own job where I facilitate perhaps a few meetings a month, the teachers will be expected to be at peak performance every day during this entire 2020/2021 school year. Expectations from their employer and parents will be high.

I don't believe that this learning model will be sustainable over the long run.

[Anonymous]

Teachers spend all day with 20+ children crammed into a room. There is absolutely nothing more draining than that. I understand it is a very different type of energy utilization but it will be a huge relief compared to what they are used to in terms of energy requirements- if they didn’t burnout in the classroom, they won’t during DL...

[Anonymous]

I would die if I had to spend 4-5 hours a day live online four days a week. Parents are expecting actual teaching for the full time and I think most teachers are expecting to teach a short lesson and then have the students work independently to kill some of the “performance” time.

[Anonymous]

Everyone is burned out online. I'm in back to back meetings the whole day, and then back at it late at night because there is no line between work and home.

We need to solve this for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone is burned out online. I'm in back to back meetings the whole day, and then back at it late at night because there is no line between work and home.

We need to solve this for everyone.

+1. I'm online, including video conferences, all day long for work (and didn't get the summer off in the middle of it). I don't know why you feel like this is some special concern for teachers, OP.

[Anonymous]

I work as a digital events specialist and I would like to address the issue of teacher burnout while teaching online FT. I see this type of burnout in my own industry frequently, however it is easier to be flexible and take time to recharge. Most of our teachers have not been trained to teach in a digital environment full-time very day. Teaching online requires vastly different energy utilization and I feel that the the current proposed teaching schedules will cause massive burnout for many of our teachers.

The learning environment for our children will be completely different and each child will have a different way of adapting to this new environment and the teacher will need to adjust to this new learning environment and be able to assist their students as well as parents. The facilitation of content will be different and teachers will need to be flexible to adjust if necessary. Parents will be able to observe and question teaching styles and this may cause additional stress for teachers. Keep in mind, contrary to my own job where I facilitate perhaps a few meetings a month, the teachers will be expected to be at peak performance every day during this entire 2020/2021 school year. Expectations from their employer and parents will be high.

I don't believe that this learning model will be sustainable over the long run.

OP, thank you for caring enough about teachers' well-being to post this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers spend all day with 20+ children crammed into a room. There is absolutely nothing more draining than that. I understand it is a very different type of energy utilization but it will be a huge relief compared to what they are used to in terms of energy requirements- if they didn’t burnout in the classroom, they won’t during DL...

There is no training or pedagogy in the world that would have prepared any teacher to deal with the interaction of 20+ children online for these unprecedented times...the reason they won't burn out is not because of DL as being easier but because of the possibility of the lack of accountability on student performance because of the fact that there will be an asterisk for 2020-2021.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers spend all day with 20+ children crammed into a room. There is absolutely nothing more draining than that. I understand it is a very different type of energy utilization but it will be a huge relief compared to what they are used to in terms of energy requirements- if they didn’t burnout in the classroom, they won’t during DL...

There is no training or pedagogy in the world that would have prepared any teacher to deal with the interaction of 20+ children online for these unprecedented times...the reason they won't burn out is not because of DL as being easier but because of the possibility of the lack of accountability on student performance because of the fact that there will be an asterisk for 2020-2021.

I believe that this will not be like the Spring semester. Teachers will be accountable and testing for students will be done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers spend all day with 20+ children crammed into a room. There is absolutely nothing more draining than that. I understand it is a very different type of energy utilization but it will be a huge relief compared to what they are used to in terms of energy requirements- if they didn’t burnout in the classroom, they won’t during DL...

There is no training or pedagogy in the world that would have prepared any teacher to deal with the interaction of 20+ children online for these unprecedented times...the reason they won't burn out is not because of DL as being easier but because of the possibility of the lack of accountability on student performance because of the fact that there will be an asterisk for 2020-2021.

I believe that this will not be like the Spring semester. Teachers will be accountable and testing for students will be done.

It will nonetheless be an outlier year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone is burned out online. I'm in back to back meetings the whole day, and then back at it late at night because there is no line between work and home.

We need to solve this for everyone.

+1. I'm online, including video conferences, all day long for work (and didn't get the summer off in the middle of it). I don't know why you feel like this is some special concern for teachers, OP.

Are you leading all of the meetings, doing the bulk of the talking, educating your coworkers? If you do, how do you stay fresh and focused? And how do you keep your coworkers engaged? I can do it no problem in the classroom, but it’s different to be in person interacting, where students can collaborate with other students, small groups that can be assembled and rearranged quickly, etc. Please offer tips.

[Anonymous]

Teacher here. Normal teaching is mentally and physically draining. Online teacher is not physically draining but much more mentally draining. The frustrating part of it is that I am now dealing with parents nearly 100% of the time. Kindergarteners cannot get online by themselves very well. They can’t do much independent work. So I have to attempt to contact parents all of the time and it’s not easy. There is a language barrier and a cultural barrier. I’m not looking forward to doing this again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers spend all day with 20+ children crammed into a room. There is absolutely nothing more draining than that. I understand it is a very different type of energy utilization but it will be a huge relief compared to what they are used to in terms of energy requirements- if they didn’t burnout in the classroom, they won’t during DL...

I've done both.

Although DL is a joke, it's just as exhausting for different reasons, and it's emotionally damaging to kids, especially the younger ones.

Get back to the classroom! so much whining

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. Normal teaching is mentally and physically draining. Online teacher is not physically draining but much more mentally draining. The frustrating part of it is that I am now dealing with parents nearly 100% of the time. Kindergarteners cannot get online by themselves very well. They can’t do much independent work. So I have to attempt to contact parents all of the time and it’s not easy. There is a language barrier and a cultural barrier. I’m not looking forward to doing this again.

OP here. This is exactly what I am talking about. It will be extremely mentally draining for teachers especially those who are teaching the younger grades who require a lot of parent assistance. I think that in classroom teaching is exhausting as well, but you are mainly dealing with students for the majority of the day. This type of teaching means dealing with parents in addition to the children. I have a feeling that there will be quite a few teachers who will resign or take LOA if we are going to do this for the entire school year. It just isn't sustainable.

[Anonymous]

Well, what is your suggestion op? To short change the children's education even more by demanding less direct instruction time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, what is your suggestion op? To short change the children's education even more by demanding less direct instruction time?

Open the schools to in person instruction. Problem solved!