Honestly, every teacher I’ve talked to in the past week, we’re all exhausted and at our ends. Today, my colleague in kindergarten (who also works at our neighbouring school), we were preparing our classroom for Sinterklaas, she had to go to the other school for a couple of parent teacher talks, then go back to our school and finish decorating (which is yes, insane), she came back and said our other colleague at our neighbour school was close to tears after the talks. And they weren’t even bad talks.
An other colleague told me how our 3rd grade class was driving her up the wall this week, because a couple of those kids still can’t seem to grasp how hitting someone you disagree with is not good conflict management.
I knew a teacher who burned out while having one of the nicest classes of kids you’ve ever seen, but the two before that one were very tough (and since they were all combinated groups, you can end up with the same kids for two or three years). He burned out, because his body finally got up with the stress. And I think that might be happening to a lot of us now. We’ve had two years of dealing with Covid measures, two years of stress, and now I see the people who I thought were the most stable and self assured teachers I know falling down.
Me, frankly, I don’t know how I’m doing. I’m tired, but that’s not new. This is what usually happens to me during this time of year. I am stressed, more than I was last year I think. Last weekend, I cried a lot. I did make an appointment to see a mental health coach at my doctor’s for next week, because I think I need it.
Today was tough. Kids were hyped up, two of them had a big angry fight. The classroom became kind of a mess during art lesson. They did have fun though during it, I think. I myself did not have a very good time, but yeah. Right now, I think I feel a bit like:
...I think we might all feel a bit like this.