How Are Others Managing the Increased Demands of Teaching When Their Tank Is Already on Empty?

Teachers Aid

Coming back to another disrupted school year has placed unexpected and unprecedented stress on teachers. In this episode, we check in to see what we can learn about how teachers are managing the increased demands of teaching when their emotional and mental tank is already on empty.

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Monica Swift, M.Ed., is an educator with 20+ years of varied experience in the field of education. She currently serves as an intermediate literacy instructional coach and an elementary classroom teacher. Throughout her years in the profession, Monica has served in private, public, and post-secondary education as teacher, coach, consultant, trainer, researcher, education systems strategist, and more.

Patricia (Tish) Jennings, M.Ed., Ph.D. is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of social and emotional learning and mindfulness in education and Professor of Education at the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia. Her research places a specific emphasis on teacher stress and how it impacts the social and emotional context of the classroom, as articulated in her highly cited theoretical article "The Prosocial Classroom." She is the author of numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters and several books: Mindfulness for Teachers: Simple Skills for Peace and Productivity in the Classroom, The Trauma-Sensitive School: Building Resilience with Compassionate Teaching, Mindfulness in the Pre-K-5 Classroom: Helping Students Stress Less and Learn More, part of Social and Emotional Learning Solutions, a book series by WW Norton of which she is editor. Her latest book, Teacher Burnout Turnaround: Strategies for Empowered Teachers, was released in December 2020.

Madeline Will is a reporter for Education Week who covers the teaching profession. Before joining Education Week in 2016, she was the publications fellow for the Student Press Law Center. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2014.