True Life: I’m Drowning [Episode 187]

Rebecca Joyner [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to week two of my true life teacher confessions series that we’re doing this June. This week’s anonymous confession reads as follows. My story is very much like how yours was. I work for a very small school as the only science teacher, and I have five preps across six grade levels. How on earth do I manage my preps, teach as effectively and efficiently as I can, run labs at least once a week per class, and do all of my out of classroom responsibilities? Similarly, another teacher confessed, how do I truly fit it all into a forty hour work week with all of the extra things that the school and district requires of you? In my district, there’s so much teacher accountability, but little to no student accountability. We are constantly being asked to think outside the box to get students to be engaged and increase class averages. For example, our school admin even suggested to increasing the amount of papers that are turned in at the end of the period for each student to leave their paper at their seat and the teacher walk around and collect them after the bell rings. What? Does this high school? And if we cannot expect a student to place their paper on the turn in drop off table at the front of the room, what are we doing here? I feel like I’m drowning at times, taking the time to research and try different things in my classroom and still be present once at home with my family.

Rebecca Joyner [00:01:26]:
Can you relate to any of this? I know I can, and you are not alone. There are so many people that reference that term drowning in their confessions that they submitted or overwhelmed, or it’s just too much. But here is the thing that I learned the hard way. Drowning people cannot help save other people. Think about when you’re on an airplane, how clearly do the flight attendants make it that you have got to put your oxygen mask on first before you can put it on your neighbors. So in this analogy, it would be your students. You have to save yourself before you can save or help them. So how do we do that? How do we manage this job and not feel like we’re always on the edge of a little mental breakdown, a little mentee bee, if you will? Let’s talk about it.

Rebecca Joyner [00:02:19]:
This is Secondary Science Simplified, a podcast for secondary science teachers who want to engage their students and simplify their lives. I’m Rebecca Joyner from It’s Not Rocket Science. As a high school science teacher turned curriculum writer, I am passionate about helping other science teachers love their jobs, serve their students, and do it all in only forty hours a week. Are you ready to rock the time you spend in your classroom and actually have a life outside of it? You are in the right place, teacher friend. Let’s get to today’s episode. First and foremost, I have three things I have to address. And then we’re gonna talk about how to manage not drowning under all of the things that are placed on you as a teacher. We’re gonna talk about how to address it mentally and then also physically or practically.

Rebecca Joyner [00:03:11]:
Okay. But first, the three things I have to preface this all with. One, I know I am biased, but I genuinely think science teachers have more responsibilities than any other type of teacher. Like, I could argue this all day with anybody. So I just want you to know this is hard. Like, you have all of the expectations that other teachers have on them, but then you also have this entire extra component of labs and not only the prep of those and the execution of them, but also the mental load of keeping adolescents safe while doing semi dangerous things, that’s so much. And then especially secondary science teachers, no offense to if there are any elementary listening here, but like secondary science teachers, you probably are also like doing these clubs and these sports teams you’re coaching. And I know there’s clubs and stuff at the elementary level, but it just, you can’t compare like coaching varsity track and field at the high school level to like an after school run club that they have at my son’s elementary school.

Rebecca Joyner [00:04:12]:
Okay. So I genuinely think that all y’all listening to this have the hardest job of any teacher in the K through 12 space. I can’t speak for college because I’ve never done anything close to that or known anyone who does that. So just hear me when I say that this is hard. Like, you’re not crazy. If you feel like this is hard and it’s too much, you’re right. It is too much. And it’s a broken system and we have to figure out how to work within a broken system so that you’re not a victim of this broken system.

Rebecca Joyner [00:04:41]:
Okay? Second, let me say, I wanna address the second person’s confession that I read about their admin’s expectations that to be perfectly honest were outrageous to me that like you’re they’re asking teachers to collect even more papers and not only collect them, but have students just place on their desk and then you collect them. Like that is next level that we can’t expect 14 to 18 year olds to turn in a paper. Like, what are we doing here? So I have three episodes I want to point you to, and I’ll link all these in the show notes. But if you related to that, you’re like, yeah, my admin has asked me to do some ridiculous things. I have three episodes for you. First episode one fifty six is what to do when you’re being micromanaged. Highly recommend that one. Episode 155 is how to create active and accountable learners, how to get students really active and engaged in their learning and held accountable for what they learn.

Rebecca Joyner [00:05:34]:
And then episode 123, what to do when you care more than your students care. Those last two, especially I think are two of the most important podcast episodes I’ve ever recorded. I’m not kidding. Like every single day of my life, well, Monday through Friday, because I don’t check email on the weekend, every single Monday through Friday, I’m getting something in my inbox somewhere, whether it’s Instagram or email, where I’m linking one or both of those podcast episodes to a teacher who needs to hear it because of the situation they’ve been put in. Things have become teachers’ problems that are not actually teachers’ problems. Like, you know, that whole, like, it’s not you, it’s me. Like, it’s very much them. It’s very much you, you know, it’s not, it’s not me.

Rebecca Joyner [00:06:12]:
It’s not you. Hope that makes sense. Okay. The third preface I have to say, and then we’ll get into the good meat of this. If you are balancing three or more preps, like that teacher mentioned in the first confession that I read, you need to listen to I have an entire playlist on Spotify just because that’s the easiest thing for me to make playlist of for free. You’ll get commercials on Spotify, but Spotify is free. I did a whole series on balancing multiple preps and I’ve had some great guest interviews with teachers who have three or more preps. And I’ve put all those podcast episodes into one place.

Rebecca Joyner [00:06:45]:
You can find it at it’s notrocketscienceclassroom.com/prepsplaylist. And you just put in your email address and then it sends you the link in your email. I’m a link that there. I really think if you have three more preps, that’s a lot of stuff you need to listen to that I’m not gonna address here. Okay? Now with all that said, let’s address how to not drown when you have all this on your plate and how not to have a mental breakdown. Of course, seek professional help if that is needed. That’s like so important. I’m like the biggest fan of therapy.

Rebecca Joyner [00:07:14]:
It’s not even funny. But I do wanna address a couple of mental truths that I really think all teachers need to hear and accept. And I say a lot of these, but I’m gonna kind of compile these all in one place here. First, teaching is your job. It is not your life. And if you look at this and you see teaching has really become your life, you’ve lost some serious boundaries here. And I’m not saying it’s necessarily your fault. These things are sneaky and it just kinda happens and boundaries that are not upheld strongly get crossed little by little.

Rebecca Joyner [00:07:48]:
And before you know it, you’re being stampeded. Okay? But you need to remember, this is your job. It is not your life. That is a fact. Second, you cannot possibly do it all well or perfectly. You cannot possibly do it all well. Something has to give. And that’s where my third thing comes in.

Rebecca Joyner [00:08:11]:
Be effort is good enough. I don’t know where we’ve gone off that. Like we have to be A plus 100% at every single part of our job. There’s no one who has a job that is excellent and excels at every part of their job. All of us have jobs where there are some things that come more naturally, some things that are easier, some things that we naturally put more of our energy towards and other things that we just let be or see effort be good enough. I mean, if you’re a parent listening to this, think about that. Think about what are the like one or two to maybe three things that you like are like I you really, really care about and so you choose to do really, really well. And then think about all the other things that you’ve chosen not to care about and not get crazy over.

Rebecca Joyner [00:08:55]:
Apply that to teaching. It should be the same way. I don’t know why we feel like we do everything so, so, so well. Let the ball drop in some areas and B or C effort is good enough. It’s still passing. Fourth truth, assess and live within your current capacity within your current season of life. And don’t be discouraged if that’s low right now because your capacity will change like the seasons do of your life. For example, I have a friend who has children that are my children’s ages and then they had a wonderful blessing of a surprise baby.

Rebecca Joyner [00:09:32]:
So she has, like, a newborn, but then she has, you know, a five year old and a seven year old. And, you know, that’s hard. Like, I was so grateful. All mine kinda came very closely after three years of trying. And I was just kind of like in the chaos of diapers, in the chaos of everyone’s taking naps, like, all at once. It’s a lot harder. Like, she’s like, we’ve got, like, late night events and I’m sitting in the carpool line, but then I also have, like, this baby that’s got a nurse. And it’s so hard and I just feel like it’s so hard to do anything fun.

Rebecca Joyner [00:10:00]:
I just always have to be at my house. And she’s discouraged. I was telling her, I’m like, girl, this is your one summer that’s gonna be like this. You’re gonna have one really hard summer, and then it’s gonna be so much easier next summer. And to think like, you’re not going to be nursing this baby next summer. She’s not, she knows she’s not, she knows when she’s going to stop. She’s just got to get through one summer like this where, yeah, she’s not going to go to the beach and the pool as much as she’d like to with her five and seven year old. But there, this is not forever.

Rebecca Joyner [00:10:25]:
And that’s what I wanna tell you too. If you’re in a season of life where your capacity is super limited, this is not forever. Okay. I remember when I was writing the chemistry curriculum, it was also a crazy season because we were building our house, we were moving into a rental. I mean, it was nuts. And I just remember being like people would ask me, like, hey, can you meet for lunch? Or, oh, can you volunteer for this extra thing at our church? Or, you know, I I get asked I I I love to do mentoring. That’s something I really feel passionate about. But I I had a couple of people ask me, like, could we meet, like, once a month or whatever? I just had to say no to everything.

Rebecca Joyner [00:10:57]:
I had no capacity outside of my basic responsibilities as a parent and a spouse and writing chemistry. Like, I had nothing else. And it was sad. I mean, there was a a year and a half of my life where, like, I never met up with a friend for fun, pretty much. And I’m not saying that’s necessarily healthy. That’s what I chose to do, but now I can. I have more flexibility. And so that’s where I just wanna encourage you.

Rebecca Joyner [00:11:21]:
Live within your current capacity within your current season knowing that it will change and it will not always be this way. And then the last truth, this is the fifth one I gotta tell you, is related to this. It’s lazy genius adjacent. If you’re a lazy genius listener, you know I love her so much, Kendra Daci. It’s that I want you to decide what matters most and that’s where your a plus effort goes and then everything else again, b, c effort is good enough. If you need help deciding what matters most, the first course and the secondary science simplified course bundle of virtual PD courses is my core values course. It’s like you can buy it as a mini course a la carte if you just want that one. But I basically walk you how to figure out, walk you through how to figure out what your core values are as a teacher, where you’re gonna put your A plus effort, what’s gonna matter most.

Rebecca Joyner [00:12:09]:
And then it really helps you know, like, as you’re making those 1,000,000 micro decisions that you do every day in your classroom, what to kind of let go of, what to lean into, it’s really, really helpful. We’ve done a similar process coming up with core values for our family and it’s so helpful with the decision making. Cannot recommend it enough. Okay. So those are the mental ways that I feel like we need to combat this. And those are some truths we need to accept. And if any of those just feel so impossible, again, highly recommend professional help here. Once a month counseling has changed my life.

Rebecca Joyner [00:12:41]:
Okay. Second, let’s talk about this addressing this physically or practically. Four things for you. First, use your summer in a batch lesson plan. I talked about this a couple episodes ago about when is preparation worth it or when it’s a pipe dream. I think lesson planning for one whole class and getting all of it done for one of your preps is such a great way to use your time. Also, if you don’t wanna do that, outsource lesson planning. I really think when you look at all of the responsibilities we have as a teacher, one of the only ones you you can outsource is lesson planning.

Rebecca Joyner [00:13:12]:
Like, I, Rebecca Joyner, cannot come into your class and prep your labs for you or grade things for you. I can hand you my entire biology curriculum and you know that you literally have every single thing for the entire school year for biology. So consider that. I know that those kinds of investments are expensive, but it is something you can outsource. Second recommendation, see if you can get a TA, a teacher’s assistant. I talk about this a lot on the podcast. Every school I’ve taught in has had a program like this and it’s a game changer. Essentially, students become a TA, they apply, they get to select it and assign a teacher.

Rebecca Joyner [00:13:49]:
Typically, it’s a zero credit hour course, so it’s like a study hall. But they’re getting a ton of volunteer hours and they come and they are in your class and they get to help you with things. I’ve been in schools too where it’s been a one credit hour or like a half credit pass fail kind of like elective situation. That’s a much more formal situation. But also if you’re like, I can’t get my counseling department and admin to throw this together. Okay. Start your own volunteer science assistant program and tell students at the beginning of the year, like, hey, if you need volunteer hours for National Honor Society or whatever, join the volunteer science assistant program and say, hey, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from three to four, you can come in, you check-in on this clipboard, that’s all you have to do, and then you’re gonna help me prep labs, clean up stuff, make copies, like get some of those menial tasks out of the way. Especially if you get those National Honor Society students that are tend to be upperclassmen, say, hey, I’m gonna have you run through this freshman bio lab I have and test it out and get some test data and see where I need to fix the procedures or make sure this works.

Rebecca Joyner [00:14:49]:
It’s such a great way to get help and it’s free. Third thing I’ll say is ask your admin for help. Episode 69 is an episode I did all about why you need to ask them for help, what to ask for and how to ask. And I have a lot of examples in there of what you can ask for that doesn’t require money. Cause I know that’s something a lot of us are afraid to do. And then fourth, and honestly, most importantly, is I need you to lower the bar. I I wish you could see me now. I’m wearing a teacher that says do less, be blessed.

Rebecca Joyner [00:15:19]:
Okay? Do less, be blessed. I think it’s a two part thing. I think a lot of high achievers choose to become teachers because a lot of high achievers have been really positively impacted by a teacher and that moves us to wanna have the same impact on others. And then adjacent to that, I think a lot of teachers are altruistic at heart. You know, we’re selfless. We wanna help others. We wanna make a difference in people’s lives. That’s why we become teachers and that can lead us to becoming martyrs.

Rebecca Joyner [00:15:49]:
We’re doing way too much. We’re killing ourselves for the sake of others. And I want you to lower the bar. Most teachers I talk to are doing way more than you necessarily have to. And I know you wanna do your best. I’m not saying to like phone it in, but just do less. And if you’re like, I just majorly need some help. Like, I don’t know how to do any of this.

Rebecca Joyner [00:16:07]:
Like, that is literally why I wrote the secondary science and profliged professional development course. I wrote that before I even created this podcast. This podcast was like an output of that because I just wanted to keep talking about this stuff every single week. But this course is a virtual PD course. It’s all prerecorded so you can work at your entirely own pace. There’s no, like, live group component anymore or anything like that. But I literally walk you through everything. Like I talked about core values, how to build relationships with your students, your classroom culture and how to manage it, how to set it up, whether you’re a floater or you have a beautiful lab space.

Rebecca Joyner [00:16:42]:
We talk about lesson planning, labs, assessments, work life balance, like boundaries, all the things. Like it’s truly what I wish that like every teacher, every new teacher could take this course, like going into it. And even if you’re experienced, it’ll help you kind of hit the reset button on how you’re doing this job in a way that’s less, but then better because you’re gonna be in a much healthier place. So that’s how I hope to encourage you today. My take home challenge is go back and re listen to some of those truths I said. I gave you five of them, write them down on sticky notes, like put them in places that you’ll see them while you’re doing work. And then practically speaking, one of the first steps you can take is reach out to your admin for help. Episode 69 has a ton of ideas.

Rebecca Joyner [00:17:26]:
And then maybe spend some time, maybe go on a little outdoor walk right now, a little vitamin D walk, unless you’re in the South and it’s like 97 degrees and 89% humidity. So that’s how it is where I live, but maybe go on a little walk, put a weighted vest on if you wanna not do less, you wanna do more and reflect on how you can lower the bar and really protect yourself. Again, put your oxygen mask on first. And if you wanna check out any links that I mentioned to those podcast episodes or those courses, they’re in my show notes at it’s on rocketscienceclassroom.com/episode180seven. I would really love to hear from you today if you can resonate with that drowning feeling, but now feel like you have a life raft. Like you’re, you’re feeling like you can tread water a little bit because you’ve got a life raft. This felt helpful. I felt like this might’ve been a little bit of like a tough love episode, which I never want to like hurt anyone’s feelings.

Rebecca Joyner [00:18:14]:
But I also just think I’ll again, I learned all of this the hard way. I failed at all of this first so that I feel like I could support other teachers in doing better and doing less and being blessed. So hopefully this episode helps with that. Alright, teacher friends that wraps up today’s episode. If you’re looking for an easy way to start simplifying your life as a secondary science teacher, head to itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com/challenge to grab your classroom reset challenge. And guess what? It’s totally free. Thanks so much for tuning in, and I’ll see you here next week. Until then, I’ll be rooting for you, teacher friend.