Special Education for Beginners | Managing Paraprofessionals, Special Education Strategies, First Year Sped Teachers, Special Ed Overwhelm, Paperwork for Special Education Teachers

How to Stop Teacher Burnout Before It Stops You

• Episode 209

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Burnout isn’t just being tired—it’s about feeling empty. And most likely, it's something we all face at some point in our career.

In this episode, we discuss the emotional, physical, and mental weight of teacher burnout—especially in the world of special education. From the never-ending paperwork to the emotional energy required just to make it through the day, it’s no wonder so many educators are running on empty.

In this episode, Jennifer shares 5 key “buckets” of real, restorative strategies to help you lighten the load, reconnect with your purpose, and feel like yourself again.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Why surface-level self-care doesn’t cut it
  • The difference between reactive and restorative self-care
  • How to build in daily habits that protect your peace
  • What mindset shifts can help reduce stress and perfectionism
  • How to establish healthy professional boundaries (and stick to them!)
  • Ways to build meaningful community and support with other educators
  • Small but powerful forms of self-care you can start today
  • A personal challenge to help you put these tips into action

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📝 Resources Mentioned:

I'd love to hear from you!

  • Email Jennifer directly to share what self-care strategy you’re committing to this week!

Writing individual impact statements based on a student’s unique disability  and needs can be a big struggle AND a big time suck.! And in case you haven't noticed...extra time is not something you have a lot of.

My IEP Impact Statements Growing Bundle will give you  the resources you need to make writing impact statements a breeze.  





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Speaker 1:

Well, hey there, welcome back to Special Education for Beginners. We are kicking off a brand new month, which means a brand new theme and, honestly, this one hits home for so many of us teacher burnout. Whether you have been in the classroom for two years or 20 years or maybe your two years feels like 20 years chances are you have felt the heavy weight of burnout creeping in at some point, and in the world of special education, where the demands are constant, the paperwork is drowning and the emotional load runs deep, it can feel especially overwhelming. This month we are going to talk openly and honestly about what burnout really looks like, why bubble baths and long weekends are not enough to fix it and, most importantly, what actually helps, from practical strategies to bigger picture solutions. My goal is to give you tools, perspective and a little bit of encouragement to help you not just survive the rest of the school year but truly feel whole again, both in and out of the classroom. We'll also be welcoming two incredible guests who are doing meaningful work to support teacher wellness and on the last episode of the month, I'll wrap it up on a personal note and give you a few final takeaways for how you can start protecting your energy moving forward. But today I want to start with you. I'm going to walk through five key areas that can make a real difference in how you manage your stress, regain control over your time and begin to beat burnout, not just for today, but for good.

Speaker 1:

Let's get to it. Hey, special educator, are you overwhelmed by the absurd amount of paperwork on your to-do list? Do you wish you had the skills to build a rock solid team with your staff? Do you find yourself scouring the internet for how to meet the needs of each student on your caseload? Well, hey there. I'm Jennifer Hopper, an award-winning veteran special education teacher and current instructional coach, who has walked in your shoes through each of these challenges and, yes, I have the metaphorical blisters to prove it. I have cried your tears and felt your pain, and now I'm here to support you in the way I wish someone would have been there to support me. Listen in each week as my guests and I dish out practical wisdom to help you handle all the classroom curveballs that are thrown at you and learn how to laugh in spite of the chaos, to celebrate those small yet significant victories that only a special educator can understand. So are you ready? Wipe your tears and put on your superhero cape, because together we are going to learn how to survive and thrive in the ever crazy, completely overwhelming laugh so you don't cry. Profession of being a special education teacher.

Speaker 1:

Okay, let's be honest. When most people talk about self-care for teachers, what do we usually hear? Take a bubble bath, treat yourself to something nice, go get a massage or a manicure or pedicure, and sure those things can feel good in the moment. We all deserve rest and little moments of peace. But if that's the only kind of self-care we're talking about, we're missing the bigger picture, because burnout isn't about being tired after a long day. It's about feeling empty. It's going to sleep with dread for the next day. It's about waking up already feeling defeated the next morning. It's the emotional weight of constantly being needed but rarely feeling seen or heard. Now, to be fair, bubble baths, face masks and massages and treat yourself moments aren't bad, but they are reactive. They don't address the deeper causes of burnout, like feeling undervalued, unsupported or overwhelmed. So if surface-level self-care is not the answer, what is True burnout solutions start with acknowledgement.

Speaker 1:

We need to stop romanticizing exhaustion as dedication. You don't have to be the last one in the building to prove you care about your students. Being a great teacher doesn't require running yourself into the ground. And while I'm going to share some examples of what restorative self-care can look like, I have a disclaimer. As I go through these solutions, please remember that this is not a one fits all. Pick what you think will work for yourself and commit to it. Don't try to do them all and don't dismiss one just because you don't think it will work for you. Give it a try, it might surprise you. So while burnout isn't something you can fix overnight, I do have some real practical steps that you can take to lighten the load and reclaim your energy. I've put together a list of strategies that go beyond the usual just take a break advice and I've divided them into sections or buckets. I also have these tips, as well as a habit tracker, as a PDF that I will share with you in the weekly newsletter. So if you don't receive the newsletter, it's easy to sign up. Just go to spedprepacademycom slash podcast that's spedprepacademycom slash podcast and you'll receive access to all of the freebies anytime there's an upcoming sale and anytime a new resource is released.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so the first bucket is daily habits and routines. The first is to start and end your day with a transition ritual, whether that's music, talking, walking, journaling. My rituals are motivational podcasts. In the morning, I like Mel Robbins or Lewis Howe's School of Greatness, and then in the afternoon, after I've had a long day, if it's been a tough day, I'll empty my brain through talking using voice recordings of what went well, what went bad. I'll also list out my to-dos for tomorrow just so that I don't forget. But if it was a good day or there's not really anything on my mind, then I might just jam out to some 80s classic rock. Those are my routines, but you can pick your morning and your end of the day routine for yourself.

Speaker 1:

The next one is to use a done list to celebrate progress instead of just a to-do list of everything that you have to do. I want you to celebrate everything that you accomplished that day. When I do this, I even add some things on there that weren't originally there, just for the satisfaction of crossing it off. It's such a small thing, but it helps me see that I am making progress, even if the to-do list still feels long. The third one is to build in white space in your schedule Time with no tasks, I've found, if you don't intentionally block time for it, your schedule will quickly fill up with other things. It's not just about finding time, it's about protecting it. A few minutes of breathing room in your day can help prevent overwhelm.

Speaker 1:

The fourth is to meal prep, or plan ahead to reduce decision fatigue. Right now I'm an empty nester, but when my kids were home, this was one of the things that would send me into a tailspin, no-transcript. One thing that came out of COVID that was good was being able to order groceries online. I highly recommend taking time once a week to plan your meals and do a quick pickup order. Even if you're just planning three to four meals instead of all seven, it takes away so much mental stress throughout the week.

Speaker 1:

The fifth is to declutter your workspace to help your brain feel less overwhelmed At the end of every day. Make neat stacks, file the papers you don't need out in plain sight and toss or recycle what's no longer needed. Wiping down your desk, making sure all your devices are plugged in and leaving a sticky note of what you will tackle first thing in the morning is a great daily habit. That way you can walk away with purpose instead of panic. And then the last daily habit is to make your bed. It might seem like a tiny task, but starting your morning with this small, achievable win can set the tone for a more focused and organized day. It creates a sense of accomplishment before the real work even begins.

Speaker 1:

The next bucket is mindset and mental wellness, and the first one here is to stop glorifying overworking. Rest is productive. Now, this one is hard for me, coming from a self-proclaimed workaholic, but I know my limits and when I reach them, I allow myself to stop and regroup. Rest isn't laziness. It's the fuel that helps us keep showing up for our students, and for ourselves and our families. The next one is to practice saying no without apology. You don't owe anyone an explanation for protecting your time and energy. A simple, confident no can be one of the most powerful tools in your self-care toolbox.

Speaker 1:

The third one is to give yourself permission to do less on high-stress days. Some days, survival is enough. Lowering the bar temporarily doesn't mean you're failing. It means you're human, and the same goes for your students. Kids need downtime too, so consider building in quiet activities like puzzles, drawing or fine motor centers that let everyone teachers and students alike reset and recharge. It gives you a minute to take a breath and get some things done while your kids are also doing something that's beneficial to them.

Speaker 1:

The fourth one is to challenge perfectionism. Done is better than perfect. That beautiful lesson plan or perfect bulletin board isn't worth your peace of mind. Let good enough be good enough. And then the last one is to reframe challenges as part of the learning process, not personal failure. When something doesn't go right, ask yourself what is this teaching me? What am I learning from this? Growth comes from the mess, not from perfection.

Speaker 1:

The third bucket is professional boundaries. I want you to protect your planning time fiercely. If you are lucky enough to have a chunk of time that is reflected on paper, guard that time. Block it off like you would a meeting, because it's just as essential to your success and your sanity. That block of time might be the only chance you have all day to prep, breathe or get ahead, so treat it as a non-negotiable. The second is don't answer emails after contract hours. That message can wait until tomorrow. Your evenings belong to you and to your family, so make sure and set a clear boundary, even if that means turning off email notifications or taking that app off your phone altogether, to help your brain disconnect from school. Now I don't have a problem with teachers contacting me after hours as a coach, because I know I have teachers working on IEPs after hours, so I want to be available to them if they need it. But that's my decision. You have to make a decision for yourself if this is something that's causing you stress.

Speaker 1:

The third one is to create a system for handling your paperwork efficiently. Your IEPs, you're taking your data, your progress. Monitoring, batching, scheduling and setting up predictable routines will save your brainpower for the things that matter most. And then IEPs don't feel quite so overwhelming when you have already built in time into your week for drafting, reviewing and finalizing those IEPs. And to go along with that, use templates and checklists to lighten your mental load. Reusing effective tools doesn't make you lazy, it makes you smart. Think of it as working smarter, not harder, so that your energy can go towards things that truly require your attention. So, for example, if you have, if you test, and you give a Woodcock-Johnson or a YCAT test and you have to write a report for that, use a template so that you don't have to recreate the wheel every single time. There's a lot of the same wording that's going to be in a report like that. So you can use a template and just change the raw scores and the percentiles and the summaries. You don't have to change a whole lot of the wording. And I do have templates for Woodcock, johnson, wycat and Bracken. If you're interested in those, I will leave a link to those in the show notes.

Speaker 1:

And then the last one here is to ask for help. Delegate to your paras, ask your peer teachers or student helpers. You don't have to carry it all on your own. Let your team support you. So train them well and then trust them with responsibilities and let go of the guilt of you're not doing it all yourself. Delegation is not a weakness, it's actually a leadership skill.

Speaker 1:

The fourth bucket is connection and community. Find a work bestie or a trusted colleague to check in with weekly, sometimes daily if you have it. Having someone who gets it can make even the hardest weeks feel manageable. And this is especially important if you don't have a significant other or a family member who works in education, because I can promise you they don't get it if they are not working in a school system. So find someone that you trust and someone who knows what you're going through and have a quick vent session or a shared laugh. This can be the reset that your day needs. And, as I say that, I think that I'm my daughter's work bestie because she will call me to vent or share something special with me that happened with one of her students, and then she feels better. She doesn't take that home into her personal life.

Speaker 1:

The next one is to join an online support group or a Facebook community for special educators. Sharing and learning from others outside your building can offer a fresh perspective and validation. It's comforting to know that others around the country, or the world even, are facing similar challenges. You're not in this alone. The third is to set up informal peer mentorships. Even 10-minute check-ins matter. A quick chat in the hallway during lunch or even after school can be a lifeline for you. These simple interactions remind us that we are not alone and that support is just a conversation away. And then talk to your admin about what's going on with you. Don't assume that they already know. Sometimes they need you to be the one to speak up, but I want you to make sure that you always do this in a constructive, respectful way. Advocating for change respectfully will help build a healthier culture where you're not just going into their office and complaining about everything that's going wrong in your classroom. I want you to work together to find solutions and not just have a gripe session.

Speaker 1:

And then the last one for connection and community is to celebrate small wins with your team, even if it's just we survived the week, kind of celebration. Recognition of everything that you go through together builds morale and those tiny victories can add up over time. So, whether it's a student breakthrough or simply getting all of your copies made, take time to say that was a win, and you can celebrate those small accomplishments with having somebody run and get a sonic drink for you, or ordering in pizza or bringing treats on a Friday. It doesn't have to be big, but making sure that you're celebrating is very important to your team and to your self-care. And then the last bucket is restorative self-care.

Speaker 1:

Restore your body. Move your body in a way that feels good, such as stretching, walking or yoga. It's not about fitness. It's not about getting fit so you can go win some kind of competition or marathon. It's about reconnecting with your body and releasing tension. Even a few minutes of gentle movement can change your entire mood.

Speaker 1:

The next one is to limit your screen time outside of work hours. Your brain needs space to unplug, reset and just be so. Try setting app limits, turning off notifications or creating phone-free pockets of time in your day. The next one is to read or listen to something that is non-education related. Let your brain play in a different sandbox for a while. Whether that's true crime, fantasy or a trashy romance novel, you're more than your profession.

Speaker 1:

The fourth one is to make time for hobbies you used to enjoy. Reclaiming those creative, joyful pieces of yourself is not a luxury, it's a necessity. So pull out that sketchbook. If you liked to draw, you can start a puzzle that you've been ignoring. Go out and play around a golf with a friend. Any hobbies that you used to have that you no longer do because you're stressed and overwhelmed can be a really great restorative self-care practice.

Speaker 1:

And then the last one and this might be my favorite one in the whole entire list and that is to take your mental health days when needed, without guilt. You have personal days, you have sick days built into your contract and I know if you have kids you might have to take those for your kids sick days, but try your best to hold one or two back to take just for yourself. You have no doctor's appointments to go to, you have no funerals to go to, you have no trips to take out of town. It's just a day for you to sit and do whatever you want to do, without any guilt. Your well-being is just as important as your lesson plans, and rest is not a reward, it's a right. So don't wait until you are completely depleted. Be proactive and give yourself space to recharge. So which one of those resonated with you? I would love to hear what you are planning to do for yourself. Send me an email at jennifer at spedprepacademy and let me know.

Speaker 1:

Some of us recharge in quiet solitude. Others need connection and conversations, and some teachers feel renewed after a walk outside or a journaling session, while others need to completely unplug and binge a comfort show guilt-free. What works for one teacher might not work, or even feel helpful for another, and that's okay. This kind of self-care is intentional, it requires boundaries, it's not flashy or Instagram-worthy, but it's what keeps you from slipping further and further into burnout. Teacher burnout is real, but there are real solutions too, and, like I said earlier, it isn't about doing all of these things all at once. That can actually probably cause you more stress.

Speaker 1:

So here's my challenge to you Pick three strategies from this list that speak to you and try them out for the next two or three weeks. Track how they make you feel. Pay attention to your energy, your mindset and your joy. You might be surprised by how even small shifts can make a big impact. And don't forget if you need a printable version of this list, it will be sent to you as a free PDF in this week's newsletter. All right, you've got this. I'm cheering you on every step of the way. Next week we are going to chat with Dr Jessica Werner with North Shore, learning to talk more about the topic of burnout. So I'll see you then.