8 Strategies For Surviving
I absolutely love teaching! I love teaching music! But there have been MANY times I thought of leaving the profession. At those times, I had to dig deep and remember my calling. I’ve had to look at other jobs and think, “What would those be like,” ultimately deciding that I didn’t want one of those other jobs. Here are six tips for surviving the stress bubble of teaching.
Find a hobby
I love to perform. I love riding my bike around Colorado Springs on a warm day. I love to read and often get through 40+ books a year. However, for me, giving lessons is not a hobby. I can make a lot of money doing it, and have gotten back into it since retiring from full time teaching, but when I taught full time it felt too much like I would be carrying work home if I taught lessons. Find something you enjoy doing – it could be music related but might be better if it’s not – and get involved in that. It could be a sports team, karate, gardening, walking, cooking, playing chess, belonging to a Toastmasters club, camping, creating art – just about anything.
Set boundaries
Don’t put school email on your phone
Don’t bring work home
Don’t feel like you have to lead every activity happening at school
Don’t give out your personal phone number
Don’t connect to students on social media
Leave when school is over
Exercise
This wasn’t always a priority with me. And because of that when I was 40, I weighed 30 lbs more than I do right now. The doctor wanted to start me on cholesterol and triglycerides reducing medicines. I knew I just needed to change my habits. I did, lost 30 lbs, and felt much better. There’s no right or wrong exercise. If you want to stay in this profession for a long time you have to keep your body moving. A one hour walk every day can work wonders for your sanity. My goal is to move 7-8 miles a day walking, jogging, or bike-riding.
Reflect On Your Priorities
One of mine is family. I’ve been married 38 years as of this writing and have 4 grown kids and 10 grandkkids (and counting). I occasionally take a day off to make a three day weekend so we can see our out of state grands. I once thought I couldn’t afford to be away. I left a job with over 100 sick days accumulated. Did they pat me on the back with a reward when I left? No, I basically got the boot. If I could go back, I would have taken many more days off.
Get together with others – in the band field and out of the band field
If your only circle of friends are other band teachers, you’re not expanding your horizons enough. I’ve learned so much from English teachers, and History teachers, and mostly from Coaches. One of the most important lessons I learned was from Coach White. He coached soccer and taught History. Our discipline styles were totally different…
Me as I handed out a detention…(nasally voice and extremely emotional)…”Didn’t I tell you about a million times that if you didn’t follow instructions you were going to get in big trouble and have to suffer the consequences? Why didn’t you do what you were supposed to? Look what’s going to happen now. You have a detention and it’s all because you didn’t do what you were supposed to.” This usually created high anxiety in me and the student.
Coach as he handed out a detention…(calm, quiet voice)…”I told you if you did X you’d get a detention. Here’s your slip. Now let’s go play basketball.” This usually kept him and the student calm and preserved the relationship.
Have some friends you hang out with – teachers or not – that you get together and DON’T talk about teaching.
Don’t take things kids say too seriously
I’ve been called all sorts of names…Stupid, Racist, Ugly.
I’ve been told my breath stinks.
I’ve even been accused of trying to kill a student by her mom. (I had ordered pizza and served it to the students. The place I ordered pizza from had small slivers of sunflower seeds on the pizza – who does that. Mom said I KNEW about the seeds, KNEW her daughter was allergic, and purposely tried to get her to eat the pizza because I wanted her dead).
Sometimes there are consequences to things students say, but I try not to take it personally. I care and love all my students no matter what they’re going through or have done. I respect their right to disagree with me, and even to share that respectfully. I treat them the same no matter what their grade in band or their personal opinion of me.
Get enough sleep
I don’t know how I became this way. But ever since I was young, I always made sure I got enough sleep. And when I would go to army schools, minus basic training, of course, there would be students who would stay up late studying because they wanted to make sure that they could pass all their classes. We often slept in these big bays, where there were 12 bunk beds. You just shared a room and it was noisy, and the lights were always on. It was hard to sleep.
I would put in my earplugs, put the pillow over my head and go to bed at nine o’clock. My classmates would ask, “How can you go to bed? You know we need to study. How are you going to pass the test?”. I figured that if I slept well, then I could pay better attention in class. It’s not that I didn’t study I just didn’t stay up late studying. Almost every course that I went to in the army, I ended up being on the Commandant’s list top 20% of students. It must have been beneficial! Our brain functions better when we get enough sleep. It helps us to not be irritable and grouchy. Iif you’re irritable and grouchy that can have really negative effects on your relationships to students, admin and your significant other. Make sure you get enough sleep.
Caffeine is not a replacement for lack of sleep. You can have the occasional times where you miss out on sleep. But you can’t make that a lifestyle and expect to have good health. I need seven hours a day. My wife needs about 10 hours a day. How do you tell how much sleep you need? Spend about a week going to bed at the same time each night while not setting an alarm. However many hours you sleep is about how much your body usually needs.
Listen to beautiful music every day
My favorite – anything by Yo Yo Ma.
Dr. South was one of my professors in my master’s program. He said sometimes we forget why we got into this field. Personally, I like to put on some beautiful music, lay down, close my eyes and listen to it. No analysis. No thinking about it. No conducting. Just letting it flow into your spirit.
Hope these strategies help!
James is retired from full time teaching. He has served private, suburban, and Title 1 schools and now teaches half time at a charter school. Find out more about James at www.jamesdivine.net Subscribe to his podcast Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band.
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