Warm Glow or Charred Residue?

Today was a day for basking in the warm glow that comes from seeing your passions affirmed by others. It happened at the third Midwinter Teacher's Gathering organized by members of our church community. People attended from neighboring churches--Old Order Amish to conference Conservative, other conservative Mennonite communities in Kansas (Maranatha to Old Colony), and from Oklahoma and Iowa as well. In this part of the country, where Mennonite communities are separated by at least a three-hour drive, we've learned to value the opportunity to interact, even though we are at widely varied places on the Mennonite spectrum.

These gatherings were the brainchild of staff members from Pilgrim Christian Grade School. The meetings have provided inspiration and help for a growing number of participants each year. This year, I heard that almost 100 had registered before today, and my estimate of the number of actual attendees is a good bit higher than that.

From our local church, quite a few homeschool parents attended, along with interested young people, school board members, and anyone who cared to come for whatever reason. My father and my sister Linda attended, even though they are not teachers or the parents of students. They lent support to my brother Lowell's general session on Building on a Solid Foundation and my workshop on Teaching Writing in the Elementary grades.

One of the main presenters the first year was Wes _________ who had taught for a number of years in the local Amish school. Sadly, his outstanding teaching career was cut short when he and his wife began to pursue international adoption, and the agency they worked with would not consider their application till they had a better income. That prompted a move to construction as a means of earning a living. This year he helped plan the program and conducted one of the workshops, so his experience and competence are still being put to good use.

The only person to have two general sessions this year was Arlyn __________, who taught at one time in the same school where I teach. He substituted several times there this year. But for most of the past number of years--nine all together--he taught in Brooklyn, New York. His final presentation, on teacher burnout, helped crystallize for me something I've been pondering for at least the past six years.

I believe our schools would be well-served by mandatory one-year breaks for teachers after every six-year teaching interval. The word I use for this break is "Sabbatical" in the Old Testament tradition of repeating cycles of work and rest every seven years. This cycle may not be the only pattern that would work. But, in the absence of compelling logic for a different cycle, I think the seven-year cycle is a reasonable choice.

Arlyn said there was a time, only three and one-half years ago, when he could not imagine himself ever doing anything except teaching. Now, he can't imagine ever going back. He told me privately earlier that he wonders now if he might still be teaching if he had taken a break earlier, even before he realized he was headed toward burnout. As he feels now, his lifetime teaching quota is all used up.

He appealed to teachers to take various measures to keep from repeating the scenario he experienced. And he admonished board members to think about the fact that those who are the most passionate and visionary are the most likely to burn out, if no one plans wisely to keep it from happening. The cost of losing this kind of staff member, for any reason, is too high.

Arlyn also made reference in passing to his sister Jana, who is an MD currently at home and away from her duties in El Salvador. She's here to recover from disabling symptoms of burnout, but kindly offered to talk to anyone in today's crowd who would like to talk.

I could weep for "War Veterans" like Arlyn, Jana, and Wes, whose one-time passions are not part of their every day activities right now--not because they were incapable or because their services were not needed, but because the job was too big, and relief was too slow in coming. In Wes's case, the pay was too low.

In the New Testament era of freely offered grace, I wish Christians could extend grace a bit more freely to each other, in the form of offered rest perhaps, especially to those who do "people work" day after day after day, and who get weary in a way that can't be alleviated by a good night's rest. Perhaps one of the best ways to do that would be to return to a pattern set in the days of the Old Testament law, when rest from tilling the land was mandatory every seventh year. Compared to our currently common customs, that "legalism" could be liberating.

In this chapter of my teaching career, I hope I have the wisdom to act wisely before the warm glow I felt today erupts in a conflagration that progresses to a heap of charred residue. Could "warm glow" really end up as "burn out?" What I heard today makes me think it's happened to others, and I can't assume that it could not happen to me.