ERIN SPONAUGLE

When the final child leaves your room, when you shut the door for the last time with the last box packed, there's this moment where it feels exciting and happy and as if a weight has lifted, and then within about twenty minutes the air goes right out of your balloon, and you have nothing left. No joke. It's not just the end of the year that catches up with you at that point; it's the entire accumulation of everything since August, and when the adrenaline finally stops, you st

The noise level in schools this time of year is something else entirely. Then there's this one that only a teacher will truly understand, and that's hearing your own name. The sheer volume of times your name gets called in an average day by the end of the year is somewhere between being a minor celebrity and having a recurring nightmare. It just never stops. Half celebrity, half bad dream. That's the end of May. Is it any wonder teachers need help for overstimulation?

Here's my take: What most of us are actually looking for as teachers isn't appreciation. It's validation. And those are not the same thing. Appreciation is someone telling you thank you, bringing you a treat, acknowledging what you do. It's nice to receive, and it's meaningful when it comes from the right person at the right moment, especially a handwritten note, which is honestly my favorite and the thing that sticks with me the longest. But appreciation is external; it'

Is your classroom currently giving Jumanji meets Jurassic Park? Same. Here's why it happens every single year and what to do about it. Tips and strategies for teachers dealing with challenging student behavior at the end of the school year. Has your classroom been particularly attentive lately? Are your students turning in their best quality work, making thoughtful choices, and listening the first time you ask? If you just laughed out loud because saying no makes you want to

A non-negotiable is not about daily habits. It's about the things you are simply not willing to accept as part of your life, ever. The things that, if you had to sit with the reality of committing to them for a year or more, your answer would be an absolute and unequivocal no. Where a boundary is something you practice, a non-negotiable is something you protect.A non-negotiable might show up as a grade level or position change you didn't ask for and can't imagine doing.

Spring break is on the calendar. You've been counting down to it since January with the quiet desperation of someone who has been running on adrenaline and vending machine pretzels since February. That particular brand of anticipation builds this time of year because you are tired. But can teachers actually relax during spring break? And if you're a teacher headed towards burnout, spring break feels like a finish line you can't wait to cross.

The idea that teachers are some kind of extraordinary species that runs on dedication and apple-shaped things and can push through anything is a setup for failure. And one of the places it does the most damage is right here, in the moment when you are clearly not okay, and you go in anyway because that's what superheroes do. You are a person. Life does not stop just because the school year starts. You get sick. You have appointments. Your kids have milestones you are not goin

Wanting a change does not mean you failed at teaching. It doesn't mean you're being disloyal, or dramatic, or that you should just push through for a few more years. Teachers are people, and people grow and change, and at different points in life they want and need different things. That's true for everyone except, apparently, for teachers, who often get the subtle message that choosing to stay in one classroom doing one thing forever is the noble path and anything else is ab

Silly season is officially upon us, and your supplies are feeling it. Here's how to get through the rest of the year with your materials and your sanity mostly intact.You know what nobody told you when you decided to become a teacher? That one day you'd watch a kid casually snap a brand new colored pencil in half, stare directly at you, and then shrug. And you'd have to decide in real time whether to address it or just keep teaching because you have fourteen more things to co

First of all, everybody is tired. Your students, their parents, your coworkers, you. The third quarter of the school year tends to be when the heaviest content is taught, and the most work is piled on, which means kids who are already struggling to keep up are hitting a wall right about now. When someone is overloaded and their executive function is running on fumes, things come out of their mouths that probably shouldn't. We're not that different, honestly. We just have

When our students don't do their work, we can't see what they know. We can't give them feedback. We can't tell if they're ready for the next level of content, and we can't make the professional judgment we're being paid to make about their progress. That's frustrating on a purely practical level. few things in the classroom will get to you faster than planning a solid lesson, designing an assignment that actually gives you something to work with, and then watching the work n

Teachers can't be the only ones our students learn from. Standing up there every day, pouring everything we know into a room full of kids while they absorb it passively from their seats, or worse, from their iPads, is a fast track to being completely emptied out by October. Cooperative learning shifts that dynamic. When students work together, they teach each other, and sometimes they are honestly better at teaching certain things to one another than we are.

If you are a teacher in the United States right now, you already know what I'm about to say. The things our students are seeing in the news or right outside the front doors of their own homes are heavy. Every time you check the news, it feels like we are teaching in a time of tragedy or crisis. They involve real people's safety, real families, and real fear. And those same students are walking through your classroom door every morning carrying all of it, whether or not you ca

But here we are. We’re getting ready to start a new semester, and today I want to talk about something that always feels bigger than people admit: transitioning back into school after break and setting our students and ourselves up for a stronger second half of the year. If you're feeling a little sad or anxious about going back right now, I want you to hear this first: that feeling doesn't mean something is wrong with you. It actually makes a lot of sense. Over the past

The demands. The constant changes. The workload. The very real concerns for our own safety and the safety of our students. The fact that we carry our personal lives right alongside all of that, because we don't stop being people just because we walked into a school building. When I first decided to become a teacher, people questioned whether it was a wise choice given my history with anxiety and panic attacks. And I get it: on the surface, putting a high-strung person in a h

Setting limits at school is hard enough. Here's how to stay the course when the people around you aren't thrilled about it. Navigating Resistance: Tips for Implementing Change to Prevent Teacher Burnout Let's talk about the part of teacher burnout recovery that nobody really warns you about: the part where you're doing the work, making the changes, choosing better, and the people around you aren't exactly cheering you on. You want to avoid teacher burnout, but the reaction fr

Students repeating sounds like “6-7,” “sigma,” or random noises can derail learning and teacher well-being. Learn why it happens and practical classroom strategies to stop disruptive noise and protect your peace.

Cold and flu season hits teachers hard. Learn practical classroom hygiene strategies, wellness tips, and boundaries that help teachers stay healthy, protect their students, and avoid burnout during the school year.

Are your students acting out and harder to manage around the holidays? In this article, you'll learn the reasons why students have more behavior issues around holidays and breaks, and strategies for teachers to keep the classroom calm and focused.

Parent-teacher conferences don't have to cost you extra stress. Read this guide for ideas, checklists, and answers to questions that can keep your parent-teacher conference from being a successful experience.