On Energy

Q: Teaching is an act of giving - mentally, physically, and spiritually. It requires not only giving in those respects in the classroom, but also engaging those parts of yourself in a way that is honest,challenging, and exhausting. Where does the energy come from?


Jack: My energy comes from feeling like I can live my life in my teaching. I can't make it through too many days feeling like I'm teaching for someone else; in many ways, it has to be for me. If I come home at the end of the day and feel like I need "me" time, it wasn't a good day. And that isn't sustainable - if the only time I'm feeling like I'm living the life I want to lead is the half of my waking day when I'm not in the classroom, I'm only living half a life. The summer isn't long enough to undo that feeling.

So what makes me feel like I'm living my life? I need to be able to engage multiple parts of myself. I can play the role of teacher, but I can't play the role of someone else. That means that I need to be able to be myself. And that's a scary thing at the beginning of the year. One of my intstincts is to be what the kids expect, to construct a stock-character who the kids will hardly even see - someone so standard that I'll be invisible.

But there's another instinct, much stronger, that drives me to take the risk of putting myself out there. Sometimes it took the kids a while to come around, but they did. And eventually they would start to be themselves, too.

I need to be able to think with my students. That means that we need to be tackling questions that are of interest to them and to me. I need to be intellectually stimulated and engaged. I need to be able to laugh with my students, to worship with them, to play with them. The day needs to be about me as much as it is about them. And if it is about me, I can go home and feel like I lived my life. I don't need anything but a good night's sleep.


Douglas: Teaching is a demanding craft; you have to be ready to perform four or five times a day, everyday. In most jobs, you can lay low on an off day, perhaps do a little less when you’re not up for it. Not with teaching. The responsibility of leading a classroom demands total attention for the time you have with your students and that responsibility gives teaching its meaning. You have to bring all of yourself to the classroom, or else it shows. To set high expectations for students means you have to model that and students sniff out hypocrisy and inconsistency like bloodhounds.

How does one stay true to giving your all? I’d say anxiety and adrenalin propelled me through my first two years. As a beginning teacher, I was just learning the material, learning how to effectively teach it, learning classroom management and the host of other skills in the craft. I think the novice’s desire and energy brought me to class, ready to give, my first two years. Once you’ve reached a manageable level of competency, you have to figure out how to remain fresh in the classroom. I think about it this way: a teacher is a conduit between students and material. My energy and my interest in the subject is a model for the students in my class. That means I have to find ways for material to be new and fresh to me. It can be new ways of teaching the same material or teaching new materials.

What’s critical is the role of professional development. Schools should be learning communities, which means necessarily, teachers should be modeling learning. A teacher that doesn’t seem interested in learning him/herself is a poor teacher and that’s why burned out teachers are poor teachers: they just don’t care anymore. Going away to conferences, taking classes, sharing with other vibrant teachers, are all ways to recharge.

Lastly, giving all of yourself requires that you have something to give. Again, the first two years are easy, ironically, because they are so hard. As your career progresses, how you take care of yourself mentally, physically, and spiritually creates the well from which you draw energy. What you’re creating in your personal life will determine how much you bring into the classroom. So keep investing in your personal relationships, stay intellectually engaged, keep running, and maintain your spiritual life. You and your students will be better off for it.


Mike: Teaching is an act of giving. In safe, caring environments, it is also an act of receiving. The teacher's relationship with her students is reciprocal; mental, physical, and spiritual energy is thus constantly burned and refreshed by each member of the learning community.

In unsafe environments, where teachers or students feel their identity is ignored or disrespected, this reciprocal relationship is impossible. Fear prevents us from sharing our energy, limiting the pool the community can draw on. The teacher therefore burns out in a rather literal way: without the help of her students, her energy is spent far faster than she can ever replace it. A few hours at home after school each day is not enough to refuel.

The teacher is running on fumes by February and crawls into the summer months a broken husk. Alternatively, the teacher simply stops giving. This strategy of self-preservation keeps her sane, but drains the job of any life. Boredom replaces burnout.

In safe environments, students and teachers learn and grow together. The teacher feels comfortable showing weakness and asking for help. In this way, she models humility. She lets the student see how the subject matter - be it literature, history, basketball, or mathematics - is part of her life. She is able to take learning seriously enough to be consistently life-altering. There is something raw and experimental in what she does, because she has not stopped learning. The students are the focus of this learning experience.

When I teach, my energy comes form my community. The more my school is integrated into my community - however I define it - the more energy I have. This means the best schools will be local and they will include the families of the teachers and students. The energy generated by the act of teaching and learning will be self-reinforcing, and will come in all shapes and sizes. At times, this immersion in community will be exhausting. But it is the only lifestyle of teaching that is ultimately sustainable.