Strategies from Rawn Boulden, an assistant professor of counseling and counselor education and former middle school counselor, and
Jill Jones, an assistant teaching professor of literacy education and former elementary classroom teacher, literacy specialist and
literacy coach.

Four Tips for Preventing Burnout

1. Create structure and boundaries for work.

Job creep can be real, and it can be easy for teachers to take work home with them and/or stay at school after hours. Both tendencies can adversely impact work-life balance and, likewise, exacerbate teacher burnout. While these occurrences are not always completely avoidable, teachers can examine ways to meaningfully set limits on work hours, email checking and grading outside of work to minimize burnout and support their capacity to be present for students.

Incorporating structure in your schedule can allow for boundaries between work and personal life. Determine if there are certain times or specific days in which you feel you can do your most effective work. For example, you might determine mornings before school are best for you or Thursday afternoons are a day you do not have other activities. Then, plan your work for these specific times or days and consider several essential tasks you could do in order to effectively use your extra time. Then, knowing when you schedule work times, reserve other times to engage in personal needs and hobbies. Also, consider pre-planning your week to know when your specific work times and personal events will take place.

2. Carve out time to relax and reflect. 

 Prioritizing rest and downtime during non-work hours is essential. As teachers, this is often difficult to do, especially because we are dedicated educators who often have never-ending to-do lists. It can be easy to feel like you should complete items on your work to-do list during your downtime. However, it is essential that your body and mind experience periods of time when you are not required to accomplish tasks. This rest enables you to recharge and better support the demanding work that you do in your schools with your students. Remind yourself in those moments in which you feel the need to accomplish something that relaxation is so valuable. 

It can be easy to feel like we’re “on the move” all the time, bouncing from student to student or classroom to classroom. Personal reflection and introspection are often-neglected strategies that, when implemented, can prove effective in addressing teacher burnout. This can take many different forms—such as daily journaling one’s thoughts and feelings to peer debriefing following a particularly challenging lesson or class. Regardless of the mechanism, many teachers find them helpful in mitigating stress and potential burnout. 

3. Utilize workload management tools.

It’s easy for educators to get bogged down by asks, meetings, deadlines and the numerous distractions that occur throughout the typical school day. The constant notifications, pings, voicemails and emails can trigger anxiety and the dreaded “Sunday Scaries.” One practical wellness-informed strategy is to incorporate tools designed to enhance efficiency, organization and general workload management. For example, using digital planners or calendar apps to block out focused work time, setting priority lists for daily tasks, employing task-management apps like Trello or Todoist to track assignments, and scheduling regular “no-notification” periods can help teachers stay organized, reduce cognitive overload and create predictable routines that protect mental energy.

4. Engage in activities that bring you joy and spark your senses.

Ensure you engage in activities that provide joy and enable you to take a break from your work. Educators work hard all day and all week long. The work takes a large amount of physical and mental energy—it is all-encompassing work. As a result, teachers need time to disconnect and do things that bring them personal happiness. This may be engaging in a hobby, spending time in nature, baking, or spending time with people who are easy to be around. Engaging in these activities enables you to recharge and ultimately to engage more effectively in the work that you do in your school and with your students. 

Incorporate physical movement and, when possible, try to engage in activities that allow you to engage with your senses with varying degrees of required physicality. For example, take a brisk walk outside and notice the colors of the sky, trees or buildings around you. Listen closely to the sounds of birds, traffic or distant conversations as you stretch or move, allowing your ears to tune into your environment. Feel the textures under your feet or the breeze on your skin or explore tactile tools like stress balls or resistance bands while exercising. Pay attention to natural scents, such as freshly cut grass, flowers or the crispness of winter air, as part of your mindfulness practice. Even small mindful eating breaks, like savoring a piece of fruit or a cup of tea, can combine taste with gentle movement, helping you reconnect with your body and senses throughout the day.