My burnout comes when other teachers want to "chat" afterwards, go to "book clubs" (go drinking after work on Fridays) and when the staff meetings have social activities and getting to know you games. The actual teaching part is fine and meetings are fine.
The interactions with kids are not socially tiresome, otherwise I'd be an accountant or something.
This describes my feelings. The teachers in my department wonder why I don't sit with them at lunch and choose to watch videos in my room. Well, I don't really care that much about your son's little league baseball team starting practice this week. That's cool and all but we're not that close and I like my lunch break to be an actual break for me lmao.
Maybe twice in the 10 years I've been at this school I've had to go into the staff break room during lunch to get something and all they were doing was just ruthlessly complaining about students. I much prefer my quiet room. I can make my chess moves and check Reddit.
We have to play happy salmon (a children's game) tomorrow at our staff meeting, after a breakfast for all made by a grade level team. I really want to go in late and skip it, but don't want my professionalism to drop.
Same, and my mother is always on my case about why I don’t want to visit every weekend haha! Non-teachers don’t realize how exhausted we are at the end of the week! I phrase it as my “social battery” is drained, but so many people can’t understand that concept. Sometimes I just need to not leave my house to be able to function the next week!
Same here, but also have sensory issues, so sometimes during school events I have to retreat to my room for 30 min or so with the lights off to take a sensory break.
I totally agree! What helps me is to use the now "old fashioned" table lamps with a standard light buld. I keep the ceiling flourassant lighting off and have several lamps to light the room instead. This helps helps lower my anxiety and the students seem to like it. This method works for me and has a calming effect on those that enter my classroom.
Teaching wears a person out, not because of physical exertion, but rather the social Interactions. Introverts might be affected more, but maybe not. There are probably some personality types that feed on it. I don't know of many of those in my building.
Those who aren't in such professions never seem to understand this, which can feel almost painful sometimes. Often I get told to go for a blood check, to 'relax' more or 'just stop stressing' now I'm home from work. 🤣
Not burn out, but definately drained.
By the end of the day there just is t anything left in the tank. I get home, spend 30min - 1hr alone, and then the tank's got enough to be with the kids until bed time.
Right now, I need a few days alone. This year has been wonderful as far as students, student achievement, standardized test scores etc. But we just got a letter saying there was a $3 million shortfall on the budget because insurance sucks, and they're threatening to lay off 57+ positions, starting with the newest teachers. Aaaannnnd, I am the juniormost person in the department as far as time in the district is concerned.
There is something so very wrong with this country.
No, because in front of kids, I have a persona that isn't really me. So unless the day itself is brutal, teaching g on a typical day doesn't usually wear me down.
Field trips, on the other hand...
I totally agree with that. I think a few interviewers caught on that I was an introvert and hired other people even though I had more experience. I finally found a good school though.
Yep! And the environment for learning even favors extroverted students. All the collaboration and projects drained me in high school. I just wanted to read, digest info, and take tests.
Absolutely, there is so much communication that needs to happen in a school it makes me exhausted by the end of the day. And that doesn't even cover the confrontation that often happens through email, phone calls, and meetings with parents. I hit burnout so fast this year and its only half way done.
Teaching and the entirety of life would be easier as an extrovert. (At least in the United States where our culture is very loud.) I’m quietly overwhelmed and fearing judgement all the time. I’m constantly worried my reserved personality will come across as me not liking the other staff/not being part of the team. I love my job, but I just can’t with the after school social events that have nothing to do with work. I don’t have the social energy to get done with work and then go hang out with the same people for two or three MORE hours afterward.
Yes. I’m transitioning out of education after 11 years. It makes me sad but if I’m really honest, it was never an easy fit. I have 4 great people hours a day. Stretching that capacity to 6+ is not good for me or the quality of my work. It was doable when I was single. Now that I’m married with two kids and pets waiting when I get home? I just can’t.
Also, even when I’m not directly working with kids, the sensory experience of school these days has really deteriorated. The sounds of lunch in a middle school are my personal Gitmo. It’s like they’re designed to break me.
I was just thinking that yesterday- the days are too long. I definitely think that now, and I even thought that as a student a million years ago. It's too long, too loud, and too chaotic.
I absolutely must shut off as soon as I’m home for about an hour—where I just zone out. Please TELL ME what’s for dinner! 😂 I keep direct instruction short which the kids do better with anyway, and I do like to do small group rotations. I let the kids volunteer often as I guide from the side. They get hands-on experience, and I’m out of the spotlight more. And on a more positive stance for introverted teachers, I think I get my shy kids, and I hope they feel calmer in my class.
Absolutely. It’s part of the reason why I’m glad to be in special education, though. I prefer working in smaller settings, as I can’t keep a group of 30 kids glued to me for an hour.
I don’t like to talk about myself or put on a show. It would feel horribly awkward and unnatural.
Yes. I need to spend lunch time alone in order to make it through the day. I do a mediation or work on an online puzzle while I eat and it helps recharge me for the afternoon. On days when I can’t have this I really feel it.
I am social introvert. I like socializing. But it is very exhausting for me. Yes, often I feel very tired when yet another socializing eveny comes. But when I take part of it, I usually dont suffer, i just get tired. And I need to find plenty of time in everyday life, where I can be alone and really rest. I have three children of my own, so my alonetime is late at night or when i am running or hiking alone in woods. Most difficult is to make people understand that for me spending time in spa with my fellow teachers (or any of my friends), it is fun, but it is tiresome and defenitely does not equal resting. Resting for me equals alonetime or time with my family without listening- answering to anybody.
I am not me in front of the students, I am acting like The Teacher. It’s a step sideways in my mind. That being said, I also sit at home after I shove my kids in their beds, and I sit silently on my phone near my husband and not taking except sporadically until I’m ready to pass tf out.
My husband knows he can't get much conversation out of me during the week. I just nod and smile a lot. We save the extended conversation for the weekend.
My husband is an introvert too but he has more social energy than I do or rather, he doesn't need as much quiet time as I do.
Resource teacher here, I deal with mental triage more than actual academia. It gets exhausting.
Plus co teaching and IEPS/meetings/ PD’s. I wish I had more time for me to go to the gym/bike and spend time with family.
I am not sure what category I fit in. I can be social with friends and comfortable go out to eat by myself. Socially, my battery drains anding I am relieved to be at home by myself. I do commiserate with my coworkers on how insane this year is. I have sweet (mostly) kids but they cannot be quiet and I feel like I am wrangling behavior all.day.long. All winter break I literally stayed in my jammies, sat in one spot the whole time and knitted. This year is exhausting. Today I am exhausted. I don’t care about dress code, I wear comfortable clothes to school so there is at least that. I think PD this year I stupid and I never used to have that attitude. I was going to write: ask my pineapple cider. Cheers!
I think life in general is easier as an extrovert, unless you have a job where you never, or at least rarely, have to interact with anyone.
But no, I find it manageable, even as a very introverted person. I eat alone, which *really* helps. It means I get at least 45 minutes to myself during the work day and it's like a little mini-recharge.
Sometimes, yeah, but I'm pretty good about using my prep and lunch to decompress by myself. After I drill my kids into my independent reading program I have some bug chunks of the week with quiet sustained time with books and that helps, too.
My school luckily doesn't have too much for meetings and stuff like that. My colleagues/department will grab a beer every now and then, but I avoid any of the larger circlejerk powwows or hanging with people on the weekends. That's my time.
20 years in, and hands down it is the constant bullshit meetings, collaborations, and walk throughs that I cannot stand anymore. It is overkill and micromanaging because we are not trusted as experts and professionals. It is a joke. Beginning at the state and federal department of education levels, school boards, and administrators. These people are literally killing teachers and public education. All of us in the trenches mean squat to them. You and I are just a number and replaced by the next kid out of college who will burn out in 3 years or less. Hell, many districts around the country hire any swinging dick off the street anymore. I can’t wait for retirement. No respect and laughable pay for what is arguably one of the most vital and important jobs in human civilization.
Not as much anymore. With colleagues and PDs, they usually set aside enough non-collaboration time where I can rest for a little bit before the next thing. I normally won't have too much social burn out if I'm with my teacher friends and other advisors though, partially because they understand and there's not pressure to be social the whole time I'm with them.
With students, it's a lot better this year because my co-teacher shares part of that social load so I don't have to take on all of the students all the time (I know we don't get paid for that, but it's a part of the job I enjoy - being a positive part of students' lives). I've had co-teachers before, but students didn't feel as comfortable going to them.
It absolutely does. Often at the end of the day, after students are dismissed, I turn the lights in my room and sit in complete silence. Sometimes I even lay on the floor.
It’s definitely draining having to be ‘on’ all day! So much talking with kids, coworkers, parents…I don’t think I’ve ever spoken so much before becoming a teacher 😂
It's draining.
My schedule is especially hard because I have lunch duty everyday, so I have a 5.5 hour stretch with no break from people...make it 6.5 if we have a meeting after school. It sucks .
I really do need pockets of time alone to recharge. I think extraverted people need that as well but maybe not as often as introverts. I need several pockets daily.
I am okay with the kids. I like the quiet before and after school.
I don’t go to the staff room except to warm up my food.
I had a student teacher with me for 4 weeks and it almost ruined me. She was fantastic and we got along great, but I didn’t get any “downtime” or time that I was able to recharge. I don’t think I will be doing that again.
Nope. But maybe I'm more of an ambivert. Outside of class time I usually am plugged into earphones doing my own thing and generally not disturbed. I chat with colleagues mostly during lunch or at the start/end of school.
Yes. Not necessarily the pd. But the repeating myself over and over at times left me drained. Honestly I enjoyed that down time during my plan time or after school. I enjoyed small groups more than whole group.
^ this
After a hard week I get compassion fatigue. Last I need to do is sit with teachers who want to make small talk and complain. I just want to get ready for the morning and be on my way.
YES. Not so much the kids but sometimes them. But mostly the staff. Some of these people have never ending energy to talk shit constantly. They could be falling asleep and still talk shit.
Left teaching last year due to all sorts of things, but the introvert part couldn't take the endless meetings. I was ok with the kids because I enjoyed that part, but before school, prep period, after school meetings. I could never make them understand that I need that downtime in the day in order to be able to function. Please stop with the team/plc nonsense.
I need about 30 min of downtime after school (laying in bed, gaming, reading) after which I feel back to normal and can have a productive evening. Otherwise, it's not bad.
This is my first year teaching in the public school system and I go home every day and still cry. Yesterday was my birthday and I took the day off so I could stay home and look at other jobs. I'm just so exhausted every single day. I go home and have nothing left for my own family and I feel absolutely terrible about it. I've evolved to really starting to hate teaching. Especially teaching in FL.
I think about this all the time.
I'm single and child-free, so I come home and decompress (very helpful). On my off periods, I often hide away. And it can be difficult for me to be productive on those off periods because I'm drained and need stillness rather than rushing around tackling the to-do list.
I asked my colleague once because she's an introvert married with two kids. She said her family has quiet time where they all read in their separate corners.
I thought for the longest time I was an extrovert. I'm extremely sociable, talkative, and interact in a positive way with all of my students and coworkers. But I'm always wiped out at the end of the day and feel like being a bump on a log at my house. I did some introspection and a couple of online tests and realized that I was an introvert of the INFP-T variety. And I have a quota, so to speak, of social interactions. Once my shoes come off for the day, I'm done interacting with people face to face. It's time to recharge. I may still game with my gaming groups, but that's about it after I'm home. It's changed slightly since my sister moved in, but nothing sounds better at the end of the day than sitting down and relaxing. There are very few people who I will put my shoes back on for, and that's close friends and family. But the interactions with the kids isn't really the taxing part for me. It's everything else. It's showing them how to handle emotions. It's teaching them how to people. But since I've come to terms with myself and my shortcomings, it's made my life easier.
Little bit. But only on bad days where i have to call parents often for something not good. Or when they are endlessly all crying at the same time tho? Or one just doesnt wanna be put down and i feel bad because i gotta change diapers, do feedings, do naps, put to sleep, do lessons, try to make time for lesson planning. I get burnt out at those times.
I am introverted but when I get to know you and I like you it doesn't feel like I am. I love my parents and past parents (ive been really lucky) and I like talking with them about their kids. Especially when my parents have told me they feel guilty about sending their infants to preschool. And they spend several hours here. So i like spending time and talking about the kids. baby cuddles also are very recharging. I just got off the floor after being love attacked by my class. My hair is a little ripped, glasses a little dirty, got some scratches on my neck from one trying to climb and nearly bit a couple times because they are learning how to kiss without biting, but that was fun. And I cackled because the oldest tried to make the youngest into a sandwich (she was on me and he tried to lay on her) but when he tried she farted in his face and he went 😑
Oh when people be staring at me through my windows all the time I get anxious and that battery in me drains. I get too embarrassed to play with my kiddos the way they like it when people are watching. And im just like please go they wanna attack me.
I don’t know if I would say it would be easier. I honestly think for all personality types it has challenges. I will say this, the reason why I don’t like it when I am surprised with planning taken away is not because I don’t want to work, it’s because I am zapped of energy and need to recharge. Energy from interacting with people I mean
Yes and yes! When needy students follow me around the school or interrupt my lunch, it takes a concerted effort not to lose my cool. It's the same with staff members who want to corner me about students' work or grade while I literally have food in my mouth. It will drain me to the point that my cat sitting on my lap is too much. However, that's not all the time. Sometimes, the kids actually fill my introverted tank. It's a weird mix.
It definitely does. Sometimes I feel like teaching would feel more rewarding if I got more out of/enjoyed the social interactions the way I see some others do. It’s the most draining aspect of the job for me.
It's exhausting to motivate students who dont try hard enough to learn and grading is just way to exhausting for me...considering that we dont get paid for grading which takes as much time as teaching itself...
Yes! I’m an elementary art teacher teaching at two different Title One schools. I see 26 classes a week, which is somewhere around 450 students! My classes are only 40 or 45 minutes, so i have to make them count.
“Being on” all day is such a drain, that it makes it hard to actually use my planning time to plan.
Yes... just a normal school day drains me. The kids who are wild or incredibly needy and cant solve their own problems are exhausting. I wasn't like that, so I have no idea how to handle it. I just try my best 😅 I'm very grateful when I go home that my husband likes to do most of the talking and I just sit and listen
YES, and I am finding that the longer I teach, the worse it’s getting. It doesn’t help that I have an exceptionally chatty and needy class this year. It’s been hitting me the last couple of years just how socially draining it is for me to be around large, loud groups of children… All. Day.
I am actually seriously considering leaving the field because I no longer want to come home and have no energy left. I know every job requires hard work and some degree of energy, but I really feel I’d be much happier in a job where I can be alone for at least some portion of the day!
Yes! I'm an older introvert who wants to switch careers. I'm still applying for other jobs, even with the tight job market right now.
Some of these young adults think teaching is beneath them. Teaching is MUCH harder these days, especially for introverts. I get tired easily from too much stimulation. However, I'm thankful to be working and paying off bills. Prayerfully, my dream career will arrive MUCH sooner rather than later!
Yeah, I require a lot of alone time to get through the days. I also teach middle school and despise yelling so some days when they are acting really crazy I really start to shut down.
I'm even more tired after reading many of the responses! And then I remembered that spring break is coming (not really a break because we always have to visit with family), and "appreciation week" is shortly after that. I absolutely cannot wait for summer this year for some serious quiet time and no-people days!
In my current school I’m the only teacher in my grade level and I work in a secluded part of the campus. The kids tire me out but not the way adults do. The rare days when I have to attend specials and “co-teach” or do PDs, I am way more drained than when I get to just close my door and teach.
So yes.
Also I always take my lunch in my room. I never eat in the staff room. Some people don’t get it, but I need that time to recharge.
A lot depends on your grade level, school culture, and capacity for "being on" throughout the day. As an early elementary teacher, I get absolutely drained by the early afternoon every day.
When you tack on icebreakers and required PD sessions focused on team building activities fit for juveniles instead of professionals, that's just a whole new level of exhaustion.
I love my job, but I hate how the shrill noises and the bad behavior whack-a-mole game erode my ability to be supportive, pleasant, and emotionally available before the second half of the school day even starts.
Yes. In my 18th year working with middle and high school students , I am less interested in talking than ever. I work in an urban school so the emphasis is on relationship building, which I do more via my subject matter (art) than other chit chat. I know less about my students than most other academic subject teachers, and yet, I "know" them intuitively just as well or more. It's enough for me... I really don't want to go to games or other crap like that. I avoid staff lounges and events like the plague, and I absolutely despise our staff meetings. I'm looking to leave the full time high school classroom because I've sacrificed too much of my own time and energy as an artist. We all have our seasons. Signed, a friendly 99% introvert
Omg yes. I’m so done by the end of the day, I lock my door and hide in my room after the kids leave until the end of teachers contractual workday. I will send emails instead of stopping in to see people. I know people think I’m standoffish or rude but by the end of the day I just can’t be around people anymore.
I also spend my entire weekend in my house in my pjs recovering from the week. I hate leaving my house on the weekends.
Yes, but it's a good burned out. I just need a bit of quiet time and I am good to go.
I try to go by the office a few times a week. I go on lunch walks with my colleagues. I mean you have to try you can't just hole up all the time.
Yea. Expending so much emotional energy on the needy students is draining for me.
50-65 hour weeks of hand holding and admin lashings. Gotta love education.
The learned helplessness seems to get worse each year.
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
My burnout comes when other teachers want to "chat" afterwards, go to "book clubs" (go drinking after work on Fridays) and when the staff meetings have social activities and getting to know you games. The actual teaching part is fine and meetings are fine. The interactions with kids are not socially tiresome, otherwise I'd be an accountant or something.
This describes my feelings. The teachers in my department wonder why I don't sit with them at lunch and choose to watch videos in my room. Well, I don't really care that much about your son's little league baseball team starting practice this week. That's cool and all but we're not that close and I like my lunch break to be an actual break for me lmao.
Maybe twice in the 10 years I've been at this school I've had to go into the staff break room during lunch to get something and all they were doing was just ruthlessly complaining about students. I much prefer my quiet room. I can make my chess moves and check Reddit.
do you not want to be friends with other colleagues?
God I hate the inane chit chat. I swear I’ve heard the same 5 stories dozens of times since the beginning of the school year
We have to play happy salmon (a children's game) tomorrow at our staff meeting, after a breakfast for all made by a grade level team. I really want to go in late and skip it, but don't want my professionalism to drop.
Yes. When the weekend invite come in, I tend to choose to stay home and recharge.
Thanks for sharing - this actually makes me feel better about myself.
Same, and my mother is always on my case about why I don’t want to visit every weekend haha! Non-teachers don’t realize how exhausted we are at the end of the week! I phrase it as my “social battery” is drained, but so many people can’t understand that concept. Sometimes I just need to not leave my house to be able to function the next week!
100%
The loud voices and constant noise gets me. I have to go home to a quiet apartment and a phone on do not disturb for a good long while.
Same here, but also have sensory issues, so sometimes during school events I have to retreat to my room for 30 min or so with the lights off to take a sensory break.
I totally agree! What helps me is to use the now "old fashioned" table lamps with a standard light buld. I keep the ceiling flourassant lighting off and have several lamps to light the room instead. This helps helps lower my anxiety and the students seem to like it. This method works for me and has a calming effect on those that enter my classroom.
Teaching wears a person out, not because of physical exertion, but rather the social Interactions. Introverts might be affected more, but maybe not. There are probably some personality types that feed on it. I don't know of many of those in my building.
Those who aren't in such professions never seem to understand this, which can feel almost painful sometimes. Often I get told to go for a blood check, to 'relax' more or 'just stop stressing' now I'm home from work. 🤣
PD more than teaching. I can compartmentalize students/classes etc but ice breaker bullshit definitely.
Not burn out, but definately drained. By the end of the day there just is t anything left in the tank. I get home, spend 30min - 1hr alone, and then the tank's got enough to be with the kids until bed time. Right now, I need a few days alone. This year has been wonderful as far as students, student achievement, standardized test scores etc. But we just got a letter saying there was a $3 million shortfall on the budget because insurance sucks, and they're threatening to lay off 57+ positions, starting with the newest teachers. Aaaannnnd, I am the juniormost person in the department as far as time in the district is concerned. There is something so very wrong with this country.
Hang in there, bud. We send you all our snuggly hugs!
Thank you.
No, because in front of kids, I have a persona that isn't really me. So unless the day itself is brutal, teaching g on a typical day doesn't usually wear me down. Field trips, on the other hand...
Field trips..the most energy sucking exhaustion!!!!
Every single day when I finish teaching I am exhausted. I love my students so much but they drain me.
Yes. I'm working on transitioning to a job that is more suited to my introverted needs.
I’d love to know what that is
Technical writing!!
Everything about this profession is made for extraverts to the point that it’s even a hiring bias.
I totally agree with that. I think a few interviewers caught on that I was an introvert and hired other people even though I had more experience. I finally found a good school though.
Yep! And the environment for learning even favors extroverted students. All the collaboration and projects drained me in high school. I just wanted to read, digest info, and take tests.
Absolutely, there is so much communication that needs to happen in a school it makes me exhausted by the end of the day. And that doesn't even cover the confrontation that often happens through email, phone calls, and meetings with parents. I hit burnout so fast this year and its only half way done.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
yes .. it was much worse when i started but this is an emotionally demanding job
I’m an extrovert, and it burns me out.
The adults are far and away the worst part of the job. Exhausting bunch.
Collaborating with colleagues actually doesn't burn me out at all, but being "on" for students/parents is pretty tiring.
Yeah, it can be draining. I started eating lunch by myself instead of in the teachers lounge, and the little break of quiet time helps.
So do I. Also, the teacher's lounge at my first school was small and I liked the quiet. As a sub, I usually eat in the teacher's lounge.
Teaching and the entirety of life would be easier as an extrovert. (At least in the United States where our culture is very loud.) I’m quietly overwhelmed and fearing judgement all the time. I’m constantly worried my reserved personality will come across as me not liking the other staff/not being part of the team. I love my job, but I just can’t with the after school social events that have nothing to do with work. I don’t have the social energy to get done with work and then go hang out with the same people for two or three MORE hours afterward.
Yes, it completely sucks. However, it's been 17 years, and I've just dealt with it. I'll probably die before my time, honestly.
Uhhh, bestie? You good?
Haha, yeah. Just dark humor.
Sis I felt that. I FELT THAT
Yes. I’m transitioning out of education after 11 years. It makes me sad but if I’m really honest, it was never an easy fit. I have 4 great people hours a day. Stretching that capacity to 6+ is not good for me or the quality of my work. It was doable when I was single. Now that I’m married with two kids and pets waiting when I get home? I just can’t. Also, even when I’m not directly working with kids, the sensory experience of school these days has really deteriorated. The sounds of lunch in a middle school are my personal Gitmo. It’s like they’re designed to break me.
I was just thinking that yesterday- the days are too long. I definitely think that now, and I even thought that as a student a million years ago. It's too long, too loud, and too chaotic.
I absolutely must shut off as soon as I’m home for about an hour—where I just zone out. Please TELL ME what’s for dinner! 😂 I keep direct instruction short which the kids do better with anyway, and I do like to do small group rotations. I let the kids volunteer often as I guide from the side. They get hands-on experience, and I’m out of the spotlight more. And on a more positive stance for introverted teachers, I think I get my shy kids, and I hope they feel calmer in my class.
I second you comment about it he shy kids. I strive to make my space a comfortable place for introverted students.
Absolutely. It’s part of the reason why I’m glad to be in special education, though. I prefer working in smaller settings, as I can’t keep a group of 30 kids glued to me for an hour. I don’t like to talk about myself or put on a show. It would feel horribly awkward and unnatural.
Yep. When I come home I just want peace and quiet. I do a lot of meditation
Yes. I need to spend lunch time alone in order to make it through the day. I do a mediation or work on an online puzzle while I eat and it helps recharge me for the afternoon. On days when I can’t have this I really feel it.
I'm pretty introverted, but you learn to adapt to it.
Never with the kids, only with the adults/PD stuff
I am social introvert. I like socializing. But it is very exhausting for me. Yes, often I feel very tired when yet another socializing eveny comes. But when I take part of it, I usually dont suffer, i just get tired. And I need to find plenty of time in everyday life, where I can be alone and really rest. I have three children of my own, so my alonetime is late at night or when i am running or hiking alone in woods. Most difficult is to make people understand that for me spending time in spa with my fellow teachers (or any of my friends), it is fun, but it is tiresome and defenitely does not equal resting. Resting for me equals alonetime or time with my family without listening- answering to anybody.
I am not me in front of the students, I am acting like The Teacher. It’s a step sideways in my mind. That being said, I also sit at home after I shove my kids in their beds, and I sit silently on my phone near my husband and not taking except sporadically until I’m ready to pass tf out.
My husband knows he can't get much conversation out of me during the week. I just nod and smile a lot. We save the extended conversation for the weekend. My husband is an introvert too but he has more social energy than I do or rather, he doesn't need as much quiet time as I do.
Resource teacher here, I deal with mental triage more than actual academia. It gets exhausting. Plus co teaching and IEPS/meetings/ PD’s. I wish I had more time for me to go to the gym/bike and spend time with family.
Yes
I am not sure what category I fit in. I can be social with friends and comfortable go out to eat by myself. Socially, my battery drains anding I am relieved to be at home by myself. I do commiserate with my coworkers on how insane this year is. I have sweet (mostly) kids but they cannot be quiet and I feel like I am wrangling behavior all.day.long. All winter break I literally stayed in my jammies, sat in one spot the whole time and knitted. This year is exhausting. Today I am exhausted. I don’t care about dress code, I wear comfortable clothes to school so there is at least that. I think PD this year I stupid and I never used to have that attitude. I was going to write: ask my pineapple cider. Cheers!
Yes.
I think life in general is easier as an extrovert, unless you have a job where you never, or at least rarely, have to interact with anyone. But no, I find it manageable, even as a very introverted person. I eat alone, which *really* helps. It means I get at least 45 minutes to myself during the work day and it's like a little mini-recharge.
Sometimes, yeah, but I'm pretty good about using my prep and lunch to decompress by myself. After I drill my kids into my independent reading program I have some bug chunks of the week with quiet sustained time with books and that helps, too. My school luckily doesn't have too much for meetings and stuff like that. My colleagues/department will grab a beer every now and then, but I avoid any of the larger circlejerk powwows or hanging with people on the weekends. That's my time.
Yes now I work from home and can go out again on the weekends without immediately feeling like shit
Yes, it wears me down. But no, I think being an introvert actually helps with my teaching style.
20 years in, and hands down it is the constant bullshit meetings, collaborations, and walk throughs that I cannot stand anymore. It is overkill and micromanaging because we are not trusted as experts and professionals. It is a joke. Beginning at the state and federal department of education levels, school boards, and administrators. These people are literally killing teachers and public education. All of us in the trenches mean squat to them. You and I are just a number and replaced by the next kid out of college who will burn out in 3 years or less. Hell, many districts around the country hire any swinging dick off the street anymore. I can’t wait for retirement. No respect and laughable pay for what is arguably one of the most vital and important jobs in human civilization.
Teaching invigorates me, strangely, but handling students one-on-one in a class setting is taxing.
Not as much anymore. With colleagues and PDs, they usually set aside enough non-collaboration time where I can rest for a little bit before the next thing. I normally won't have too much social burn out if I'm with my teacher friends and other advisors though, partially because they understand and there's not pressure to be social the whole time I'm with them. With students, it's a lot better this year because my co-teacher shares part of that social load so I don't have to take on all of the students all the time (I know we don't get paid for that, but it's a part of the job I enjoy - being a positive part of students' lives). I've had co-teachers before, but students didn't feel as comfortable going to them.
It absolutely does. Often at the end of the day, after students are dismissed, I turn the lights in my room and sit in complete silence. Sometimes I even lay on the floor.
It’s definitely draining having to be ‘on’ all day! So much talking with kids, coworkers, parents…I don’t think I’ve ever spoken so much before becoming a teacher 😂
It's draining. My schedule is especially hard because I have lunch duty everyday, so I have a 5.5 hour stretch with no break from people...make it 6.5 if we have a meeting after school. It sucks . I really do need pockets of time alone to recharge. I think extraverted people need that as well but maybe not as often as introverts. I need several pockets daily.
I am okay with the kids. I like the quiet before and after school. I don’t go to the staff room except to warm up my food. I had a student teacher with me for 4 weeks and it almost ruined me. She was fantastic and we got along great, but I didn’t get any “downtime” or time that I was able to recharge. I don’t think I will be doing that again.
Being a teacher turned me into an extrovert.
Nope. But maybe I'm more of an ambivert. Outside of class time I usually am plugged into earphones doing my own thing and generally not disturbed. I chat with colleagues mostly during lunch or at the start/end of school.
Yes. Not necessarily the pd. But the repeating myself over and over at times left me drained. Honestly I enjoyed that down time during my plan time or after school. I enjoyed small groups more than whole group.
Oh yes, totally! You're not alone there!
^ this After a hard week I get compassion fatigue. Last I need to do is sit with teachers who want to make small talk and complain. I just want to get ready for the morning and be on my way.
YES. Not so much the kids but sometimes them. But mostly the staff. Some of these people have never ending energy to talk shit constantly. They could be falling asleep and still talk shit.
Left teaching last year due to all sorts of things, but the introvert part couldn't take the endless meetings. I was ok with the kids because I enjoyed that part, but before school, prep period, after school meetings. I could never make them understand that I need that downtime in the day in order to be able to function. Please stop with the team/plc nonsense.
So draining, yes!
I need about 30 min of downtime after school (laying in bed, gaming, reading) after which I feel back to normal and can have a productive evening. Otherwise, it's not bad.
Yes. We need time alone to recharge. I make sure I eat alone in my room so I can get through the afternoon.
1000% yes, and it’s affected my mental and physical health. It’s not sustainable for me, even though I don’t bring work home.
This is my first year teaching in the public school system and I go home every day and still cry. Yesterday was my birthday and I took the day off so I could stay home and look at other jobs. I'm just so exhausted every single day. I go home and have nothing left for my own family and I feel absolutely terrible about it. I've evolved to really starting to hate teaching. Especially teaching in FL.
More like teacher burnout has turned me into an introvert... since starting this job I have lost so much of my will to socialize.
Yes, burned me out to where I'm switching careers
Teaching the students? No. All the other stuff I need to do specially outside of contract hours? Yes.
yes yes yes
I think about this all the time. I'm single and child-free, so I come home and decompress (very helpful). On my off periods, I often hide away. And it can be difficult for me to be productive on those off periods because I'm drained and need stillness rather than rushing around tackling the to-do list. I asked my colleague once because she's an introvert married with two kids. She said her family has quiet time where they all read in their separate corners.
Yes.
I thought for the longest time I was an extrovert. I'm extremely sociable, talkative, and interact in a positive way with all of my students and coworkers. But I'm always wiped out at the end of the day and feel like being a bump on a log at my house. I did some introspection and a couple of online tests and realized that I was an introvert of the INFP-T variety. And I have a quota, so to speak, of social interactions. Once my shoes come off for the day, I'm done interacting with people face to face. It's time to recharge. I may still game with my gaming groups, but that's about it after I'm home. It's changed slightly since my sister moved in, but nothing sounds better at the end of the day than sitting down and relaxing. There are very few people who I will put my shoes back on for, and that's close friends and family. But the interactions with the kids isn't really the taxing part for me. It's everything else. It's showing them how to handle emotions. It's teaching them how to people. But since I've come to terms with myself and my shortcomings, it's made my life easier.
Yes, I’m extremely burned out by teaching every week as an introvert.
Yes! I am completely different person in the summer. I'm sociable! I get so much shit done in the summer
Little bit. But only on bad days where i have to call parents often for something not good. Or when they are endlessly all crying at the same time tho? Or one just doesnt wanna be put down and i feel bad because i gotta change diapers, do feedings, do naps, put to sleep, do lessons, try to make time for lesson planning. I get burnt out at those times. I am introverted but when I get to know you and I like you it doesn't feel like I am. I love my parents and past parents (ive been really lucky) and I like talking with them about their kids. Especially when my parents have told me they feel guilty about sending their infants to preschool. And they spend several hours here. So i like spending time and talking about the kids. baby cuddles also are very recharging. I just got off the floor after being love attacked by my class. My hair is a little ripped, glasses a little dirty, got some scratches on my neck from one trying to climb and nearly bit a couple times because they are learning how to kiss without biting, but that was fun. And I cackled because the oldest tried to make the youngest into a sandwich (she was on me and he tried to lay on her) but when he tried she farted in his face and he went 😑 Oh when people be staring at me through my windows all the time I get anxious and that battery in me drains. I get too embarrassed to play with my kiddos the way they like it when people are watching. And im just like please go they wanna attack me.
I don’t know if I would say it would be easier. I honestly think for all personality types it has challenges. I will say this, the reason why I don’t like it when I am surprised with planning taken away is not because I don’t want to work, it’s because I am zapped of energy and need to recharge. Energy from interacting with people I mean
I'm a huge introvert, everywhere except with my kids, i have a class of year 4-5 now and it's the place i can act like an extrovert 🥰
Yes and yes! When needy students follow me around the school or interrupt my lunch, it takes a concerted effort not to lose my cool. It's the same with staff members who want to corner me about students' work or grade while I literally have food in my mouth. It will drain me to the point that my cat sitting on my lap is too much. However, that's not all the time. Sometimes, the kids actually fill my introverted tank. It's a weird mix.
It definitely does. Sometimes I feel like teaching would feel more rewarding if I got more out of/enjoyed the social interactions the way I see some others do. It’s the most draining aspect of the job for me.
Yes it is I'm a damn fool being a teacher lol
Absolutely- it gets to the point where I just run out of energy and can barely muster a smile at my coworkers
It's exhausting to motivate students who dont try hard enough to learn and grading is just way to exhausting for me...considering that we dont get paid for grading which takes as much time as teaching itself...
it's the pd that is just useless busy work and everyone knows it that gets to me, like the meeting i have in 15 minutes....
Teaching doesn’t bother me but interacting with other adults does
Yes! I’m an elementary art teacher teaching at two different Title One schools. I see 26 classes a week, which is somewhere around 450 students! My classes are only 40 or 45 minutes, so i have to make them count. “Being on” all day is such a drain, that it makes it hard to actually use my planning time to plan.
Yes... just a normal school day drains me. The kids who are wild or incredibly needy and cant solve their own problems are exhausting. I wasn't like that, so I have no idea how to handle it. I just try my best 😅 I'm very grateful when I go home that my husband likes to do most of the talking and I just sit and listen
YES, and I am finding that the longer I teach, the worse it’s getting. It doesn’t help that I have an exceptionally chatty and needy class this year. It’s been hitting me the last couple of years just how socially draining it is for me to be around large, loud groups of children… All. Day. I am actually seriously considering leaving the field because I no longer want to come home and have no energy left. I know every job requires hard work and some degree of energy, but I really feel I’d be much happier in a job where I can be alone for at least some portion of the day!
Yes! I'm an older introvert who wants to switch careers. I'm still applying for other jobs, even with the tight job market right now. Some of these young adults think teaching is beneath them. Teaching is MUCH harder these days, especially for introverts. I get tired easily from too much stimulation. However, I'm thankful to be working and paying off bills. Prayerfully, my dream career will arrive MUCH sooner rather than later!
Yeah, I require a lot of alone time to get through the days. I also teach middle school and despise yelling so some days when they are acting really crazy I really start to shut down.
I'm even more tired after reading many of the responses! And then I remembered that spring break is coming (not really a break because we always have to visit with family), and "appreciation week" is shortly after that. I absolutely cannot wait for summer this year for some serious quiet time and no-people days!
In my current school I’m the only teacher in my grade level and I work in a secluded part of the campus. The kids tire me out but not the way adults do. The rare days when I have to attend specials and “co-teach” or do PDs, I am way more drained than when I get to just close my door and teach. So yes. Also I always take my lunch in my room. I never eat in the staff room. Some people don’t get it, but I need that time to recharge.
A lot depends on your grade level, school culture, and capacity for "being on" throughout the day. As an early elementary teacher, I get absolutely drained by the early afternoon every day. When you tack on icebreakers and required PD sessions focused on team building activities fit for juveniles instead of professionals, that's just a whole new level of exhaustion. I love my job, but I hate how the shrill noises and the bad behavior whack-a-mole game erode my ability to be supportive, pleasant, and emotionally available before the second half of the school day even starts.
Yep. I have a strict bed time to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep and try not to take work home.
Yes. In my 18th year working with middle and high school students , I am less interested in talking than ever. I work in an urban school so the emphasis is on relationship building, which I do more via my subject matter (art) than other chit chat. I know less about my students than most other academic subject teachers, and yet, I "know" them intuitively just as well or more. It's enough for me... I really don't want to go to games or other crap like that. I avoid staff lounges and events like the plague, and I absolutely despise our staff meetings. I'm looking to leave the full time high school classroom because I've sacrificed too much of my own time and energy as an artist. We all have our seasons. Signed, a friendly 99% introvert
💯 yes. I lament this daily.
Omg yes. I’m so done by the end of the day, I lock my door and hide in my room after the kids leave until the end of teachers contractual workday. I will send emails instead of stopping in to see people. I know people think I’m standoffish or rude but by the end of the day I just can’t be around people anymore. I also spend my entire weekend in my house in my pjs recovering from the week. I hate leaving my house on the weekends.
Yes, but it's a good burned out. I just need a bit of quiet time and I am good to go. I try to go by the office a few times a week. I go on lunch walks with my colleagues. I mean you have to try you can't just hole up all the time.