If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to give your best effort, eventually you will overcome your immediate problems and find you are ready for greater challenges.
—Pat Riley
What happens when your email inbox is bulging and the paperwork is mounting and your conferring notes are sloppy? What happens when you’re overwhelmed and unsure of the next step? What happens when you feel like you’ll never catch up?
You keep going.
Teaching is not for the faint of heart. It is challenging to meet the diverse needs of a classroom of students while attending to the demands of curriculum expectations. The workload is heavy and the time commitment is significant. It is inevitable that at some point you will feel overwhelmed. Instead of giving up, you keep going.
Make a List
Quickly write down each task you need to complete. Make a quick list, and chances are the most pressing needs will appear. When you have nothing else to add, go back and select three tasks to prioritize.
Think Small
Break big tasks into smaller chunks. As a middle school language arts teacher, I used to be overwhelmed by the amount of grading I needed to do. I’d have 100 papers to grade and would spend weeks (cringe) avoiding the task. Then I realized if I graded 15 papers every day, they would be finished in a week. Fifteen papers a day still seemed overwhelming, so I broke it down more. I planned to grade one or two before school, two more during lunch, and five during my prep time. It was manageable to take a handful of papers home each night to grade, rather than 100. By thinking small, we are able to accomplish big tasks.
Set a Timer
Often when feeling overwhelmed, it is easy to believe there isn’t enough time to complete anything. I often avoid tasks when I’m stressed because the task seems so big and my time is limited. I’ve found by setting a timer for 15 minutes, I’m able to get started. Fifteen minutes isn’t overwhelming; it is possible. I work diligently and efficiently, knowing when the timer goes off, I can take a break. Surprisingly, I often complete a task in 15 minutes, and at other times I get into the zone and continue working after the timer rings. Getting started is the first step to catching up.
Read
It might seem counterintuitive to spend time reading when you are struggling to keep up with your work. However, I’ve found that reading an article or a blog post gives me energy. Sometimes I read a portion of a professional book or a few poems out of a favorite poetry collection. It’s important to keep grounded in our core beliefs, and one way to do that is through reading. This is a great reward for working until the timer rings!
Look for the Growth
As teachers we are constantly pushing students to learn more and read harder texts and write with more sophistication. It is easy to become overwhelmed by everything students don’t know. When we take our focus off of what students aren’t able to do, we are able to gain energy. Instead of being bogged down by students’ needs, consider completing this statement: “My students used to need ______________, but now they know ______________.”
Find a Celebration
When we look for the positive, our attitudes become more positive. If we are worried and stressed by everything we aren’t doing, then our attitudes can become more negative. Expecting to find something to celebrate is enough to change our focus and make catching up attainable.
You are going to be overwhelmed, and when you are overwhelmed, you keep going. Being overwhelmed doesn’t make us failures. Rather, it is an opportunity for perseverance and determination. This is how strength is built.
