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

5 Boundaries Every Special Educator Needs to Prevent Burnout

• Episode 211

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In this episode of Special Education for Beginners, we’re continuing our focus on teacher burnout—and today’s topic might be the most practical yet.

As special educators, we often pour from an empty cup. We overcommit, stay late, skip lunch, and carry the emotional weight of the work home with us. But burnout doesn’t just happen because of how much we’re doing—it happens when we don’t have boundaries in place to protect our time, energy, and mental health.

In this episode, I’m sharing 5 realistic boundaries you can start using right now to prevent burnout and bring more balance back into your school year. 

🔑 Here’s what we’ll cover:

  • Limiting communication outside of work hours (and what to say in an auto-responder)
  • How to protect your planning time so it doesn’t disappear every day
  • My simple, non-negotiable end-of-day routine that brings mental closure
  • Why working with your energy—not just your time—can change everything
  • How to say “no” or “not yet” without feeling like you’re letting people down

💌 FREE RESOURCE
If you’re on my email list, I’ve created a one-page visual guide for you with all 5 boundaries plus quick, actionable tips to help you protect your time and your well-being. 

Not on the list yet? Head over to spedprepacademy.com/podcast  and join for access to weekly freebies and support.

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:

Hey there and welcome back to Special Education for Beginners. Today we are continuing our month-long focus on teacher burnout. As special educators, we are notorious for pouring from an empty cup, overcommitting, staying late, skipping lunch, taking work home and carrying emotional weight that no one else sees. In today's episode, I want to walk you through five realistic boundaries you can implement to prevent burnout, before it snowballs. Having boundaries and sticking to them isn't being selfish, it's necessary. You'll leave this episode with mindset shifts, boundary setting phrases you can actually use and permission to put your well being first. 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 Hopperberg, 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 curve balls 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? W only a special educator can understand. So are you ready? Wipe your tears and put on your superhero cape, because together we're 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:

Now, before you roll your eyes at the word boundaries, because I know it's thrown around a lot, I want you to stick with me. These aren't pie-in-the-sky boundaries like just leave work at work. These are realistic ones, ones that you can actually implement as a special educator, even with a full caseload, demanding team and all the surprise duties that come your way. So boundary number one is to limit communication outside of work hours. You teach all day and you answer a million questions throughout that day, and then you are expected to, or feel obligated to, answer parent emails, check messages from paras, respond to admin questions, sometimes late into the evening, and while being available feels like part of the job. It shouldn't be all of it.

Speaker 1:

I used to be the queen of replying at 9 pm. I would think it's just one email, what's the big deal? But it was never just one. One night I made the mistake of responding to a parent and we went back and forth for over an hour on email and it wasn't anything that couldn't have waited until the next day. But I was young and a people pleaser and I thought what's the harm? But after it happened again and again, I realized I was training people to expect me to be available 24-7.

Speaker 1:

So what can you do instead? Set up a simple auto response within your email system. When you receive an email after hours, you can have the system respond with something like thank you for reaching out, I'll respond during my contracted work hours, monday through Friday. That one powerful sentence can give you back your evenings and your weekends and your sanity. It isn't your job to solve everyone's problems. Now, if you are worried about missing something urgent from an administrator or you are expecting an important reply from someone specific, consider setting up a bypass notification for that one sender or checking your inbox before bed, but only if you choose to.

Speaker 1:

The key is to be intentional. You are not on call 24-7 and setting boundaries like this will help reinforce that. Boundary number two is to protect your planning time like it's gold. Let's be real. Our planning time more often than not is hijacked by something else. A student melts down. You get called to help. A para needs clarification or help finding something. Someone needs coverage. But if your planning is always optional, if it's always interrupted, burnout will be inevitable.

Speaker 1:

For a long time I thought I was being efficient by scheduling para-led sessions in my classroom while I tried to work on paperwork, but the truth was I got nothing done. I would catch myself watching the students do something cute, stepping in to redirect a behavior the para should have handled herself, or half-listening to their session instead of focusing on my own work. Eventually I realized I wasn't really getting my planning time. I was just sitting in a room while multitasking poorly. So I made a shift. Either I scheduled Paris to work with students outside of the room during my planning block, or I grabbed my laptop and found a quiet spot in the building to knock out IEPs, lesson plans and progress reports. It was a very small change with a very big impact. Protecting that time helped me feel more prepared and a whole lot less frazzled. I also added it to my para expectations sheet that we sign at the beginning of every year. It stated I expect you to respect and honor my planning time with limited interruptions. That way, the paras knew it was important and they made every effort to not interrupt it.

Speaker 1:

Boundary number three is to create a non-negotiable end-of-the-day routine. There's always more to do. I'm not sure if I've ever started a day without something already waiting on my to-do list, but I will tell you, burnout thrives when we let that never-ending list bleed into every part of our day. Creating a consistent end-of of day routine can give your mind the closure it needs to actually rest and reset. There was a time when I would leave school with a bag full of paperwork to do and papers to grade and I would tell myself I'll finish it tonight. But instead of being present at home, I was distracted mentally still at work, and one evening my husband said you're here, but you're not really here with me and the girls, and that hit me hard. From that point on I made a change. If I absolutely had to take something home, I would wait until the girls were in bed to do it, or I would wake up early to finish it before school. But even more importantly, I created an end of the day routine that helped me leave the work I had to do where it belonged at work, before I left for the day.

Speaker 1:

I don't know why I'm talking in past tense, because I still do this to this day, even as an instructional coach. So I take my daily to-do list and I transfer anything I didn't get finished that day to a clean, fresh list. I add anything new coming up for the next day and then I highlight my top three priorities. I leave that list right on my keyboard, so it's the first thing I see in the morning. It helps me close out the day with intention and start the next one with clarity. It's a very small act, but that sense of completion makes all the difference. I'm able to step away with an empty brain and a plan for the next day. And then, if you are being intentional with how you end your day, it only makes sense to also be intentional with how you work during the day.

Speaker 1:

So boundary number four is to use your energy, not just your time, wisely. The truth is, if you are working wisely throughout the day, you won't have as much to take home at night or to carry over to the next day. For the longest time I saved my paperwork and my IEP writing for the afternoons, but by 3pm my brain was fried. I would catch myself reading IEP paragraphs over and over and they still didn't make sense. Eventually I realized I was using my best energy for my most important work. So I made a shift. I started coming in 30 to 45 minutes earlier than usual, when the building was still quiet, the phones weren't ringing and no one needed anything from me. Yet I would put my phone away, sit down with a clear plan and challenge myself to knock out as much as I could before the day officially started. Those early mornings became my most productive time. I was sharper, more focused, and things that used to take hours now took a fraction of the time.

Speaker 1:

Not everything needs to be done after school, especially if you are using your peak energy hours to tackle work that really matters. And then boundary number five is to say no without guilt or say not. Yet Special educators are helpers. I get that. We want to be team players, we want to support our colleagues and we want to show that we are dependable, but sometimes that means we say yes when we shouldn't, we overextend ourselves out of guilt, pressure or the fear of seeming uncooperative, and every yes to something extra is often a no to our own capacity, our own sanity or even our own family time.

Speaker 1:

There was a year I was asked to chair the SIT the Student Intervention Team meetings and I said yes because I loved that work. I loved being part of the problem solving and helping students get support. But the truth is it was way too much. On top of everything else, I was already managing Teaching, being a parent, mentoring, leading IEP meetings, running my classroom, supporting paras and everything in between. And although I wanted to say yes because I didn't feel like I could say no because I was afraid it wouldn't be done correctly if I didn't do it I knew in the back of my mind that it was going to be too much, and it definitely was one of the hardest few years of my career. Looking back, I realized that by trying to do it all, I was burning out fast and not giving anything my full attention. Now, when I'm asked to take on something new, I say I would love to support this, but right now my plate is really full. Could we revisit this later in the semester?

Speaker 1:

It is respectful, it sets a clear boundary and it protects your time and well-being. Most people understand, and if they don't, that's not your problem to fix. Saying no isn't letting people down. It's making sure that you don't let yourself down in the process. It's a commitment to doing your best with what's already on your plate. Remember you are only human. You are not responsible or able to do everything. Take on the things that matter the most to you and let someone else take the rest.

Speaker 1:

So let's recap those five burnout boundaries Limit communication outside of contract hours. Protect your planning time at all costs. Build a non-negotiable end of the day routine. Manage your energy, not just your time, and say no or not now without guilt. You don't need to implement all five today. Just pick one and give yourself permission to honor it for one week or two weeks.

Speaker 1:

Burnout doesn't happen overnight, and recovery won't either. But with intention and boundaries you can reclaim the end of your school year if you're still in session and set yourself up for success when the next one starts. If you are feeling like burnout is always lurking around the corner, I hope these five boundaries gave you a sense of direction and maybe even permission to put yourself first more often. And to make it even easier, I created a simple one page visual with all five boundaries and quick reminders to help you stay on track. If you are already on my email list, that resource will be in your box this week, and if you're not on the list, now's a great time to join so you don't miss helpful freebies like this in the future. Just go to wwwspedprepacademycom slash podcast to get signed up. Next week we end the teacher burnout series and I'm super excited for next week's episode. It will feature real voices from real special educators sharing what they do to combat burnout. It's going to be raw, honest and really, really encouraging. See you next week.