https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/teachers-stress-trickles-down-to-students-heres-what-schools-are-doing-about-it/2023/10

Teachers are still burned out this school year, but there are ways to help them out, according to an article in Education Week.

Methods include recognizing teachers’ good work, providing access to counseling, and lightening their workload where possible. Other support includes increasing salaries to reduce financial stress, additional support for handling discipline issues, and smaller classes.

The article points out how stress impacts the teacher’s quality of instruction, classroom management, and relationships with students. As a note, students tend to be more stressed when their teachers are, and their academic performance and classroom engagement suffers.

Some districts in the country are taking steps to address teachers’ mental health issues.

These include the following:

1. The Phoenix Union district in Arizona has two licensed counselors who focus solely on its employees. It would like to hire a third, but it’s been tough filling the position given a shortage of mental health professionals.
2. About 25 schools and districts signed up for an app that highlights teachers’ good work in school. The app, called Hilight, allows people to give shout outs to others for positive work they do at school. The cost for schools starts at $3,000 per year. Claire Smith, a burnt-out middle school math teacher outside New Orleans, conceived of the idea and her best friend Krissy Taft, a software developer, created the app. Teachers have said that something as simple as acknowledgment of their efforts supports their mental well-being. Instead of negative remarks which hurt morale, now messages of good works and the possibility of rewards appears on teachers’ cell phones.
3. Last year, the Arizona Science Teachers Association trained teachers about how to avoid burnout. At its annual summer institute, teachers discussed behaviors, challenges, and ways of thinking that are causing burn out, and what could boost their resilience.

It certainly would would be great if my district had less stressed out teachers, who uttered words of encouragement about their peers instead of complaining about the challenges of teaching. Maybe we need the Hilight app.