Dear Teacher, Don't Give Up!

Dear Teacher, Ugh. If you’re like me, the middle of the fall semester is the most difficult time of the year. And it was my plan to release this episode last month, but October. Just before we entered the month of November, I learned of a new acronym (Just what Education needs, right?). It’s DEVELSON. That’s D-E-V-E-L-S-O-N. It stands for Dark Evil Vortex of Late September, October, and November. I don’t know of a more fitting acronym for education for this time of year. If there is a season that makes me question whether or not I am going to stay in the classroom, it is this time of year. It was October of my seventh year of teaching when I came very close to the decision to leave the profession for good. Everything we are expected to do as teachers (which includes those expectations we place on ourselves), seem to collide into one six-week window, and for many it becomes too much. I see many teachers online talking about self-care as a way to manage burn out. I think leaving work at work and making time for

If you're a teacher with ideas and you are looking to connect with your principal about getting them in motion, this is the episode for you.  Back in February of 2019, I posed a question on Twitter that got a lot of attention. It sparked an ongoing conversation with on of the administrators initially tagged in that Tweet. that conversation has brought us to this episode of Dear Teacher, Don't Give Up!  In this episode, I talk with Dr. Christina Podraza, Principal of Jefferson Elementary. The conversation is wide-ranging about how teachers and principals can better relate with one another. In the end, teachers, we can walk away with some actionable tips: Engage with your principal on a personal level, assuming he or she is open to the idea of building any kind of relationship. Announce that you are trying something new, and invite your principal to give you feedback. Teachers, HAVE A PLAN. The faculty meeting is not a public forum, or brainstorming session, where you get to volley half-baked idea

Dear Teacher, When putting our best teacher foot forward, we will inevitably hit snags, set backs, or difficulties of some kind. At times, those set backs are small bumps in the road. And sometimes the problems we run into are deep, serious, and abiding. Whatever the case may be, all of us need support. But lots of teachers leave the profession because they did not get the support they needed, and they did not get the chance to develop the resilience needed to remain in the classroom. When it comes to the support we all need, some teachers will wait for it to come to them. Others are more proactive, and they seek it out. Most of those go-getters start at their campuses, looking for a teacher-friend who will help them overcome their roadblocks. And if they can’t find those friendly colleagues at their place of work, they will extend their search for like-hearted educators through social media. I am fortunate to work alongside great people who help me when I need perspective and challenge me when I may be stuck

Dear Teacher,  If you’re like me, you struggle with knowing how much time, effort, and energy you should give to the job. My lessons are never good enough. I worry that I have not given enough to assessing my students’ progress. And I am constantly tinkering with my craft to make it just a little bit better. When I give so much of myself to the job, I don’t leave time for the other parts of my life that matter. I have missed moments loved ones. There have been plenty of occasions where I am in the same location with my family, but I am NOT present with them.  As my wife and started having children, this started to eat at me more and more. And a few years after my first child was born, I started to ask myself, “Am I Present at Home?”  Shortly after launching Dear Teacher, Don't Give Up! Aimee Skidmore (@skidmoreaimee) sent me an email sharing about the time that she almost walked away from teaching. She included details about how it affected life at home, so I reached out to her and Ro

Dear Teacher, When I was in my ninth year of teaching, out of the 180 I was contracted to spend in front of my students, I was out of the classroom for 33 of them. For thirty of those days, I was out of the classroom for one of the three district committees I was participating in. I'm ashamed to admit, that the other three were due to illness and the birth of my third child! Luckily, for our family, she was born at the very beginning of a break in the calendar. At the end of the year, I had to look at my situation and ask, "Am I saying 'yes' to too many things?" Several months ago, I started interacting with Matthew M. Johnson. Beginning a friendship around the content we publish online, we eventually learned one another's stories about the twists and turns of our teaching careers. There were a few stand out parallels, and I asked him if he would be willing to share about the time he almost left the teaching. As Matthew learned what opportunities to say 'yes' to--and which ones to pass on--not only did he bec

Dear Teacher, Tell me if this sounds familiar. You have a roster full of students who are at differing levels of ability. And it’s your job to get ALL of them to an acceptable level of proficiency. As the year unfolds, to do this, you realize that you need to stay at work a little later, take home a few more assignments to grade, get up just a little earlier in the morning to be in the classroom for a few more minutes to get it all done. Tired, and leaving your classroom after the sun has set for the third day in a row, in a flash of sudden anger, you say, “Am I allowed to have a life!?” In this episode, you will hear from teacher, content creator, and professional developer, Dave Stuart Jr. Several years ago, Dave started a blog that turned into a website, which has been turned into a couple of books, and eventually leading to the development of a couple of online courses. Believe it or not, a few years into the job, Dave actually quit teaching! For many of us, this is hard to believe. But after you hear his

Dear teacher, when it comes to the challenging work of classroom instruction, have you ever felt overwhelmed? Maybe boxed in? How about exhausted? If you have, guess what? . . . That's completely normal! Teaching is a joy, at least it should be, right? My name is Jeffery E. Frieden, and I am here to help CONNECT teachers so that we can intensify our impact and WIN in the classroom. Dear Teacher, Don't Give Up! is a show that brings you stories of how successful, joyful teachers have gone from surviving to thriving in the job they love. Teachers who have endured set backs, struggles, and hardships. Teachers like you! SUBSCRIBE TODAY on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Anchor.fm, or wherever you may be listening, and together we can learn to face the reality of teaching in today's classroom, and discover that it really is the most rewarding job a person can have.

Dear Teacher, When you got your first job, did you get the most undesirable position in your department or grade level? What about passed up for a position because the other applicant had more seniority? Have you presented ideas at meeting only to get shot down? If this sounds like you, I’ll wager that you have looked at your situation and wondered, “Am I valued?” There were many times in my career when I have shared my ideas because I thought they would make the situation at my school better. I would get one of several responses. Sometimes, I was Ignored, but this was rare. Usually I was acknowledged for the idea on the spot, but that's as far as it went--when there was no follow-up, I suspected they did not place much worth in my words. Other times, I was flat out told "no" and given the kinds of reasons that led me to believe that they wanted to maintain the status quo. Our guest for this episode of Dear Teacher, Don't Give Up! is National Health Teacher of the Year,

Dear Teacher, "Don't you trust me to make good decisions in my classroom?" I don't know about you, but there was a time when I both wanted and didn't want to know the answer to that question. This was especially true when it came to a particular principal I was working under. In my case, I never had to face an interrogation of my practice. Instead, what I experienced can be described as a looming, lurking specter of disapproval. When I was on campus, judgment felt like it was laying in wait around each corner. And even though I did not get called into the front office, nor did I ever get written up, what I experienced internally--both mentally and emotionally--bordered on the oppressive. I know that I am not alone in the experience of being under the watchful eye of a distrusting administration. As a very young first grade teacher, my good friend Nancy Erwin found herself in a classroom where she was watched very closely. Hired by a district that was working to improve certain metrics, not only did she have

Dear teacher, "Are You Enough?" Has that question ever crossed your mind? Seven years into my career, during the fall semester, this question was continually before me. Something had to change. My name is Jeffery E. Frieden, host of Dear Teacher, Don't Give Up! I am on a mission to connect teachers so that together we can intensify our impact and WIN in the classroom! If you have ever given serious thought to leaving the classroom, but you hung in there and it got better, we need to hear your story. Email me at makethemmasterit@gmail.com and tell me about the time you came close to quitting. In This Episode: Since this is the launch of this podcast, I wanted to introduce myself and tell the story of the time I almost walked away from teaching forever. But, as I have learned over 14 years in the classroom, if I talk for 30 minutes straight, people will tune me out. So I invited my good friend Justin Kirkpatrick to be the host while I played the part of a guest. Thanks, Justin! When I started teaching, just lik