How to Support Teachers from Burnout with Danielle Nuhfer
17 How to Support Teachers from Burnout with Danielle Nuhfer
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Confident Principal Podcast. In this episode, we will have a guest, Danielle Newford, joining us to talk about her book, The Path of the Mindful Teacher, and she's going to talk about some tips and strategies for helping teachers overcome burnout. She was a teacher for 20 years and has overcome burnout herself and has some strategies that she can share that you can model for your staff and also just help them prevent burnout so that they're more resilient and they're happier and you can retain the staff that you have.
So stay tuned.
Welcome to the Confident Principal Podcast. I'm your host, Barb Flowers, a principal and life coach. This podcast is your guide to enhancing confidence, not just in your role as a principal, but in every facet of your life. Join me on this journey of growth, self assurance, and unlocking your full potential. Together, we'll explore how to become your best self. Let's get started.[00:01:00]
Hi, everyone. Welcome to the podcast. I'm here today with Danielle Newfer, who wrote the book, uh, The Path of the Mindful Teacher and is the founder of Teaching Well. So I'm going to let Danielle come on and introduce herself.
Hi, thanks so much, Barbara, for having me here today. I am excited to speak with you about everything school and teacher burnout and solutions we can hopefully bring to our teachers.
Yeah, well, it's so great to have you, and I loved your book, The Path of the Mindful Teacher, so if you can just kind of talk to our audience, a little bit about the book and, you know, what you were trying to accomplish with the book, and then go into what you talk in the book about the Four Noble Truths of Teaching, and explain that to our listeners.
Sure. So, my book, came about due to two bouts of teacher burnout. Um, the first was primarily, you know, your [00:02:00] normal, everyday teacher burnout. And actually, I will credit my principal, that I had at the time. He actually was the impetus for me getting some support that I needed because he took the time to have that conversation with me that he noticed that things were not going well.
I did not see myself and I will forever say that he was the reason why I started the journey I did and didn't leave the profession. I can't stress enough to your listeners, the importance of just, if they notice something with their teachers, saying, because he didn't know anything that was really going on, and just his kindness and his care and concern, It changed the trajectory of my career, I would, I would definitely say, and, and, um, so there's, there's a lot of power in that, um, so I just want to, you know, say that to the principals listening and the school leaders that are listening, I did get some support and that bout of burnout turned into me really doing and [00:03:00] flourishing at my teaching career.
My second bout of burnout was because I. still didn't know how to say no, um, when I was asked to do more and more, which is a typical teacher thing to have happen. And as a result of that second bout of burnout, that same principal, kind of convinced me to, instead of leave the profession, I took two educational sabbaticals and really dove deeply into, um, both mindfulness.
and self care and positive psychology. And I really came back from that sabbatical saying I want to help teachers and through that started, my business teaching well and also wrote the book, The Path of a Mindful Teacher, that really just shows that it's the whole trajectory of my burnout and then what I did to bring these practical tips, which I think are so good.
But I really wanted to make them very relevant for schools and teachers. so one of the, things that [00:04:00] came at the beginning of my creating this Path of the Mindful Teacher was this concept called the Four Noble Truths of Teaching. And it is rooted in, Buddhist tradition because there is the Four Noble Truths.
That's what it, it comes from. But when I was talking with one of my professors, she said, Four noble truths for like everyday people. And I'm like, well, I really think that this translates really great to teaching. So the Four Noble Truths are, the first is that teaching is really difficult. It's really demanding.
Well, that's, Hmm. We all know that . Yeah, we all know that. The second noble truth is this. That much of the stress that we feel comes from things outside of ourselves. So I think that's something that many people don't think about that what we get so stressed about is not anything inside of us. It's all has to do with the unknown and that stuff that we have no control over.
And the third noble truth is that there [00:05:00] actually is a solution to live a more balanced life and what it is. The fourth noble truth is that when we focus on the things inside of us, those things that we can control, and we are mindful of those external factors that we can't control, we will really start to be able to find balance in our profession.
So again, that bottom line, that fourth noble truth is that there is a solution. So everybody there, there it is, we found it. Yeah, people need to focus on what is in their control as opposed to what is not in our control. And then we've solved all the problems of the world. There we go.
And I love that focusing what is in control for the teachers because I noticed with my teachers that is a big thing that they focus on things that we have no control over.
And I think it's really important as a leader of the building and if you're in any leadership capacity to [00:06:00] help people. Realize what areas they can control and focus on those areas to reduce stress because there is no point of getting stressed about things that we can't control and we know in education, there's a lot of factors that play into what we can't control every day as we have kids coming in, you know, with all kinds of things happening at home, which impact behavior and Um, so, so many aspects of things that we can't control.
So, I think that, I love that you talked about that all throughout the book. I think that was really important. So, what are other ways that you think principals can support teachers on their path to being a mindful teacher?
Well, I think that it starts with having conversations, about Exactly what we just talked about, you know, about encouraging teachers to focus on those things that, and maybe you don't say that, like, have a meeting about that, but those are the, the messages that they get through your communication.
[00:07:00] If you have a teacher, and I know that I worked with many, many colleagues, and I work with teachers right now, that if they are ruminating on things that are, you know, they're coming down to your office. And, and ruminating about things that are not in your control. Maybe listening to that, of course, but then trying to somehow coach them into, what can we do about this?
What is possible? And just trying to be that mindful leader is going to impact your staff in their quest to being a mindful teacher. I think that another place that I try to encourage school leaders I work with is maybe be a little vulnerable because this stuff isn't stuff that we're ever taught.
Like, we're not taught any of these things in education circles that I know of or that I was a part of. and I think school leaders sometimes think that they need to, and for [00:08:00] good reason, I get that, um, you know, put themselves in a different space than the teachers, but you can be vulnerable to a point and say, oh, this is what I do.
to help my own well being, or this is how I reduce stress, or hey everybody, um, I'm not going to answer emails on the weekends, feel free to do the same thing, you know, like, and I know that's, that can look very different depending, on what the culture of your school is, but, you know, maybe taking the lead on doing something like that will allow your teachers to follow you and say like, okay, I, I can do that too.
I don't need to respond to an email at nine o'clock at night. I can wait for that till tomorrow.
I think that's so important. And the more as leaders we can model for the teachers, the more they'll feel comfortable, you know, being mindful and focusing on their own wellness and self care. Um, because if we're emailing them at nine o'clock at night, they're [00:09:00] going to feel like they should be responding at nine o'clock at night.
So we should really be mindful of teacher's time so that. We aren't part of the burnout problem. We want to make sure that we're supporting their mindfulness and well being. So I really like that. I also think having these discussions, whether it's through a book study. I know at my school, we did a self care book study, but I told, you know, Danielle earlier that I definitely would want to do this as a book study with my staff because I feel like Having these practical activities that the staff can do, and I've heard from my staff when I remind them to do self care activities, it means a lot coming from the leader of the building.
I think sometimes we forget how powerful our words are as school leaders, but teachers do need to hear from us. that, you know, we care about their self care, we care about their well being and they need to as well. So I think, you know, you have some great strategies in the book. And so if principals can try those strategies, [00:10:00] model them, share them with their staff and work through them, I think that could be a really powerful thing that could make huge change in a building with, you know, so many teachers being burnt out and just.
Feeling overwhelmed, even if they're not to a point of burnout yet, I think that we have to be careful because it'll come one day when they're not expecting it, you know, the burnout will just happen because it's over time. So I really love that idea, you know, of principals modeling and supporting teachers in that way.
So as we wrap up, is there anything else you want to share about the book or just mindful teaching for leaders?
what I would like to share is just again to reiterate that idea of leading your staff in a way that you're the example, because again, we're all adults in the school building, but it means So much to see this, the principal, the school [00:11:00] leader, engaging in these practices.
It's just like as a teacher, if, if I'm just giving lip service to something, my students know it. Like my students know when I'm full of it and don't really believe in the thing that I'm telling them they need to do. So if we really want our teachers to, you know, have boundaries, practice self care, create mindful moments like in, in transitions, um, bringing those things to, you know, a simple, a simple thing to like do is, you know, to take a couple minutes at the beginning of a faculty meeting and just let everybody like, breathe.
You know, you don't have to do what, you don't have to do, like, bells and mindfulness practices. You could just say, alright, let's take a minute to just, like, just sit in your chair and just relax, you know? Like, it doesn't need to be something, some grand gesture. It can be, but it doesn't need to start that way.
And, I think they'll appreciate that when, when they know it's like actually [00:12:00] who you are and what you're about, not just something you think you need to say or do. Right.
Like it's a trend right now, so you need to do it. Yeah, right, right. Actually live and model what you're doing. Yeah.
Talking to the staff about,
right. Because teachers can see right through it, students can see right through it, and we can all see right through it. So, you know, make it, make it, and it could just be like, I'm trying this thing and I don't know, like, you wanna try with me? You know, so it can be something, it, it can start in that way.
And, and what I've seen in schools I've worked with is that it starts with like, you know, a pocket of. People or, you know, as a school leader, you find those couple of teachers that are like really, invested in wanting to do some of this mindfulness, self care, like whatever it is. And then it's that one of those like things where people are like, Oh, that's interesting, you know, and then it spreads and then it spreads.
So I've found when you work with a small pocket [00:13:00] of, could be teacher leaders. It could be, you know, it could just be interested teachers. They, they become the ambassadors for this and it really like starts to spread. Yeah,
no, that's a, I think that's a great way to get it started and just kind of see who's interested, get people on board and yeah, just a small group and it grows.
It does. Definitely.
Well, thank you so much, Danielle, for taking the time to be here today. It was so great to, um, just get to talk to you and hear about your book. So, where can people reach out to you if they want more information or resources?
Sure. So I have two things. So as a school leader, if you would like to get the conversation started about any of these sorts of programs, um, please feel free to schedule a call with me.
So that would be teachingwell. life forward slash call. And then there's also a great resource that I'd love to provide to any school leader. It's teachingwell. life forward slash bundle. And that will be, [00:14:00] a collection of different resources that you could pass on to your teachers or resources that you could use for yourself and see how they could fit in your school leadership position.
those are a great place to start and then always you can go to my website teachingwell. life. All right,
well thank you so much for joining us on the podcast and I hope that um you have a great rest of the day and we'll talk to you later.
Thank you.
