“All I want to do is go into my A) classroom or B) office and focus on teaching kids.” I think most educators have had this thought at least once already this year. Why is that? There are an increasing number of outside influences that pull teachers in many directions, dividing their attention and their energy. This energy drain leaves everyone feeling exhausted by the end of the day or week. This isn’t sustainable. If this is where you or one of your colleagues are, stop struggling against the current. Learn a lesson from a lifeguard. When you are caught in a rip current that pulls your feet out from under you and carries you away from the safety of the beach, keep your eye fixed on a landmark and start to swim at an angle across the current, yell for help, conserve your energy, and you will make it back to shore. What landmark will you pick? For me, it has always been the kids. I suspect that is the case for you too. If you keep your eye on their needs, where they are in their learning and where you are going to take them, it becomes easier to see the shore and cut across all the other factors that are keeping you from getting back there. Acknowledging that the world you want is not usually the world you get, and then working within what you have control over as a teacher or leader is the first step toward preventing burn out. Evidence Centered Design can be used as an approach to instructional planning that can maximize your time and energy and keep students at the center of instructional decision making - and if you use it, can inform other actions as well.
Resources to Spark Your Thinking
Science Guidance for EL Students https://www.elsuccessforum.org/science-guidelines
SEAD in Math Classrooms https://achievethecore.org/page/3370/social-emotional-and-academic-development-sead-in-math-classrooms
It’s Time To Breakup With Burnout - Center for Creative Leadership https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/its-time-to-break-up-with-burnout-heres-how/
Rumination - The #1 Reason for Stress and Burnout Center for Creative Leadership https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/banish-stress-stop-ruminating/