7 Tips for Teacher Burnout Prevention

As teachers, you get exposure to stress on a daily basis. You have to manage a large group of students in your classroom, ensure that they learn well, and shoulder multifarious responsibilities. But, regular exposure to stress takes the form of burnout over time. It makes you feel physically, mentally as well as emotionally exhausted in the beginning. This exhaustion with time starts expressing itself as health problems like high blood pressure, migraines, and digestive issues. Although the effects of burnout are really hazardous, you have no need to panic. This is because even if you invest a little in stress management every day, you won’t become prey to burnout. So, here are 7 stress management tips that will help you with burnout prevention.

1. Be friends with your students:

You are often stressed because of your students’ mischief. But, if you become friends with your students, their mischief won’t be a cause of stress for you. Rather, you’ll be able to laugh at their notoriousness, which will save you from becoming stressed. So, to prevent yourself from falling prey to burnout, you should try to be friends with your students. Given below are three simple ways through which you can easily become friends with your students:

• Have cordial interactions with your students on a daily basis:
  Every day, before you commence with the process of teaching, try to spend at least 5 to 10 minutes, having cordial interactions with your students. These interactions will bring you closer to your students and a friendly relationship will get developed between you.
• Become a mentor for your students:
  A mentor not only teaches the students about the knowledge mentioned in books. But, he also teaches them about the beauty of life, good manners, and other similar things. This implies that a mentor prepares his students to live an enriched life filled with knowledge and enthusiasm. As a result, he grows closer to his students and becomes their go-to person for everything. So, you should try to become a mentor to your students.
• Portray an open body language:
  Your body language is the mirror of your personality. So, if you portray an open body language, your students will get the impression that you are ever ready to listen to them. As a result, they‘ll start communicating with you and a beautiful friendship will bloom between you. Now, if you wonder how can you portray open body language? Let me help you with it. You can portray an open body language in three simple ways. The first is to take regular rounds in your class. The second is to keep your shoulders and arms relaxed, don’t keep them stiff. The third is to simply cover more space while making hand gestures and body movements.

2. Make meditation an integral part of your life:

Meditation is an ancient technique to connect with self and cultivate stress resilience. It is with regular meditation that you can make stress lose its power on you. So, you should make meditation an integral part of your life. Further, you can easily learn to meditate, with the help of guided meditation videos. Many such videos are available on YouTube on different channels such as Headspace, Mindful movement, and Jason Stephenson.

3. Include some playtime in your schedule:

Playing is one of the simplest ways of stress-relief. When you play, you feel happy and your body releases endorphins. These are chemical substances that are secreted in your brain and have mood-boosting effects. As a result, your stress level lowers down. So, you should include some playtime in your schedule and play with your students. You can play both board games and physical games with your students according to your comfort level. But, do remember to lose yourself in the joy of playing to have maximum stress relief.

4. Utilize smart classroom management techniques:

Good classroom management is extremely beneficial for reducing your stress level as a teacher. This is because when your classroom is well managed, your students don’t engage in mischief. As a result, you don’t feel irritated. This brings a significant reduction in your stress level. So, you should utilize smart classroom management techniques. Now, let us discuss some smart classroom management techniques which you can utilize while teaching in your classroom:

• Make learning happen through gaming:
  Every child loves gaming. If you have a notorious child in the house, give him a game to play and he’ll get engrossed in it. You will no longer see him engaging in any sort of mischief. Similarly, if you embed gaming in the teaching process, your students will get engrossed in learning. As a result, excellent classroom management will take place. Further, quizzes, puzzles, and Pictionary are some examples of games that you can play with your students while teaching. To know more about such games, you can search the internet and create a list of suitable games according to your subject.
• Involve your students in the teaching process:
  This is a very simple trick for classroom management. You just have to involve your students in the teaching process. For this, whenever you have to teach a new topic in class, first ask your students what they know about it. Let them share their knowledge with their classmates. This will enhance your students’ involvement in class and no mischief will take place.
• Appreciate your students for their good behavior:
  YWhat happens when you receive appreciation from someone? You try to maintain the thing for which you were appreciated, isn’t it? Similarly, if you appreciate your students for their good behavior, they’ll try to maintain it. As a result, your classroom will become well managed.

5. Practice Mindfulness:

Mindfulness is the art of being completely present in the now. When you are entirely present in the now, stress cannot impact you at all. This is because your presence in the now prevents your mind from getting involved in overthinking. As a result, you don’t get stressed. So, you should practice mindfulness. To practice it you have to do nothing much. You just have to do everything in a conscious manner. Now, how to do something consciously? Let us understand this with an example- Let us consider that you are writing on the board. Then, to do it consciously, you have to feel the texture of the chalk and the board. Along with this, you can also notice the way you move your hands while writing. This will help you stay in the present moment and be mindful. Further, you can apply the same process to other things as well. It will help you stay mindful and reduce your stress level.

6. Create a friend circle at work:

Doesn’t it feel good to have your friends around? Definitely, it does! This is because when you are with your friends and loved ones, your body gets flooded with oxytocin. It is a happy hormone that lowers your stress level and triggers feelings of happiness. So, one simple way to keep your stress level in control is to create a friend circle at work. To make friends easily, there are three very simple things you can do. First, have a smile on your face. It makes you appealing to others. Second, greet everyone you meet. Third, break the ice and introduce yourself to others. Although it may seem hard in the beginning, believe me, once you start conversing with people, it will become super easy for you.

7. Be gentle on yourself:

Teaching is not an easy profession. You have to work really hard to shoulder your responsibilities perfectly. But, do not overexert yourself. Be gentle with yourself and take good care of yourself. Have nutritious food and take at least 8 hours of sleep every night. Both of these factors play an important role in keeping your stress level in control. So, despite all the hard work you have to do, stay gentle with yourself.

Stress is an inevitable part of your profession. You cannot prevent it but you can certainly work on stress management and prevent yourself from burnout with the help of the tips mentioned above. Now, wishing you All the Best and have a happy life ahead!