Professional Learning for Busy Educators

Teachers are adapting to a host of exhausting new challenges during the coronavirus. We asked educators and other experts for strategies to help address this new form of burnout.

Crisis Text Line, which provides free, text messaging-based counseling services for the U.S., U.K. and Canada, has seen 49 times the number of mentions of “virus,” “COVID-19” or “coronavirus” as of mid-March than in February. The nonprofit usually sees more than 3,000 conversations a day, but in recent weeks that number has been as high as 6,000, according to spokeswoman Ashley Womble.

On March 13, coronavirus was mentioned in 15 percent of all conversations between students and the group’s volunteer counselors, according to the New York-based nonprofit. More than half of people texting about those concerns are in the 18- to 34-year old range. School cancellations and closures contribute to a large part of the anxiety they have shared.

While some schools around the country have initiated online instruction in response to the coronavirus outbreak, Penn Manor School District where Raff teaches in central Pennsylvania, is one of many districts that has not done so because of challenges in providing distance learning for all students. In a survey conducted by Education Week, 41 percent of school leaders said they could not make remote learning accessible to every student for even one day.

Though educators in such districts cannot teach classes or give assignments, they can still play a valuable role in their students’ lives by staying connected in this time of uncertainty and heightened anxiety. “We know that strong, secure bonds with our teachers are really important in social-emotional development. To suddenly lose out on that under such strange and unprecedented circumstances can be really hard on kids,” said Jamie Howard, a senior clinical psychologist in the Anxiety Disorders Center at the Child Mind Institute and the director of the Center’s Trauma and Resilience Service. 

“We have physical distance, but we don't have to have emotional distance,” Howard said. As Raff saw with her students, hearing from their teachers provides young people comfort and consistency amid the disruptions caused by school closings and social distancing. 

Dear Teacher, For many of you, your entire career has been flipped upside down. Many of you gave your students a hug or fist bump out the door on Friday,

On New Year's Eve, back in 2012, Savannah Eason retreated into her bedroom and picked up a pair of scissors.

"I was holding them up to my palm as if to cut myself," she says. "Clearly what was happening was I needed someone to do something."

Her dad managed to wrestle the scissors from her hands, but that night it had become clear she needed help.

"It was really scary," she recalls. "I was sobbing the whole time."

Savannah was in high school at the time. She says the pressure she felt to succeed — to aim high — had left her anxious and depressed.

o one is perfect. Not one of us. But if we're not careful, we can fall into the trap of thinking we have to act perfect. 

I find it puzzling how students sometimes have the idea that teachers/principals/educators are somehow above making mistake or should be above making mistakes. 

I remember when I was teaching 9th grade English how students would jump at the chance to point it out if I misspelled a word on the white board, as if I was suddenly an incompetent teacher. They would express shock and dismay that I would make such a mistake.

But without question, I made my fair share of mistakes, and I learned that it was best to admit them and help dispel the myth that teachers don't make mistakes.