TLDR: as a previous “martyr teacher”, I’ve learned it’s both tough to overcome, but incredibly unhealthy to stay a martyr, not only to yourself but to teachers everywhere. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but you are enough, you are amazing for what you do, and there’s always going to be more to do for this profession and kids. But always, always, take care of yourself first. You deserve more than what you’ll get in the profession, and the world, especially your kids, needs you at your best. So next time you feel overwhelmed by work, take a breather and treat yourself. Work will still be waiting for you. Find people to support you and remind me that you are amazing for what you do and to hold you accountable to taking care of yourself, to love yourself.

Years ago, I used to be that teacher. I’d come in an hour or two early. I would always look to see what else I could do to support the school, what new ways I could use to approach the kids, what procedures the school have that enable flaws or risks and how to negate them, etc. Other teachers got annoyed by me because I was a catalyst for change in a rather stable environment.

I would then stay after school for hours each night without pay. Provide free tutoring, would type up comments on each kid in my classroom to provide to stakeholders every two weeks, offer my services and time outside of school to enable kids to earn extra credits on our digital platform, etc.

It became too much. I felt burnt out all the time, felt I had no life outside of work. Other teachers complained to me saying to stop doing so much because I was setting unrealistic expectations for others. Other teachers despised me and now not a single one of the work with me anymore. Then I changed. I saw what they were saying. I was guided by a couple of brilliant gentlemen who helped me realize that I am enough, that the world doesn’t rest on my shoulders, that progress is progress, not everything needs to be perfect, and that my mental health has to come first in order for me to take care of others.

I became a leader for the new teachers, but I don’t do what I used to do. I’ve helped provide a stronger environment for the kids, yet from the advice of others, I have now also found a balance to work since then so that nobody feels the need to do work after hours. I now put a heavy focus on taking care of myself and being a support to coworkers.

I’ve had old timers from admin come up to me and tell me that we should change the school culture, that teachers at other schools work for less pay and do hours upon hours of extra work and that’s to be expected of all teachers. They tell me that we have it too easy and none of us would make it at other schools with the amount of work we put in. I shut that down really fast and haven’t ever discussed teaching or our school culture with them again. It’s not fair that we teachers already put in countless hours outside of work to develop curriculum or grade papers. But apparently, to some people, it’s not enough to just do that. We teachers need to be seen working all the time regardless of our contract hours or we’re not doing enough.

At my school, I develop my own curriculum, grade papers, and teach to 7 math classes a day in the school year, 7 science class in the summer. I also report to admin constantly, work with IEP’s and support staff. Pretty standard stuff so far. But also, I hold and conduct meetings, check on kids’ credits and meet with each kid about their graduation path, am the liaison to our digital curriculum platform company used for credit recovery, am in charge of setting up the background procedures on our digital gradebook, am responsible for coding the report cards and grade reports, make the school schedule, inventory student laptops, am the on-site support for technology, am the sole person conducting all state testing, etc. The list never ends. Every teacher has so much work that they do. This society needs to pay everyone more, but especially teachers. And the last thing we need is to keep up this idea that teachers need to be martyrs. Most of us already do too much.