Dr. Tiffany Carr on Read With You Presents
Listen to the podcast here.
Founded Joy in Teaching
About Dr. Tiffany Carr: Teacher for about 16 years, taught in elementary school, secondary, undergraduate, graduate, service teachers, students teachers, online, traveled between 7 schools at one point. Has an idea of what teaching looks like today
Saw her colleagues struggling, some leaving the profession altogether
BA, MA, PhD in Education, so she started to research and found that teacher stress and burnout is not being talked about much, uncovered a way to talk about teacher burnout in schools
There isn’t always an open dialogue about teacher burnout in schools
Tiffany: Teacher resilience is giving teachers the tools to strive in their profession, change how they experience occupational stress and reclaim the joy in teaching
Education offers lots of rewards, but can be fast paced
Teacher burnout is real and can be devastating
The idea is to give teachers tools so they can adapt to stressful situations
Tiffany: External and internal work- both important
Resilience strategies, like connecting with friends, often when things are stressful, we dig into work instead of reach out to others, do something for yourself, infuse play into the classroom, do a game or a challenge that helps bring new energy into the classroom/ students
Internal strategies: Change how you react to stressors, since there is a lot you can’t change. Realizing what you can and can’t change: don’t use your energy up for things you can’t control
Chanelle: Infuse play in the classroom with brain breaks, bring vitality to the students as well as to the teacher
Tiffany: A lot of teachers feel guilty spending time having fun learning
Play can be part of learning and can help us feel better about our jobs
Chanelle: Kids learn better when they are having a little fun
Tiffany: 3 key pieces that really drove home my mission of helping to build resistance
1. Teacher well being impacts students well being: when they have more well-being, students react positively
Stressed teachers create stressed students
2. Teacher well being directly impacts students’ success. If students are burning out, students won’t thrive academically
3. Teacher well being impacts the way the school meets the needs of students
So, teacher well being helps a school succeed.
