Patrice Palmer had been teaching English for 20 years when she left teaching in 2015. She felt no desire to continue teaching even though she loved ESL. But she didn’t realize that she had burned out, unaware that teacher burnout was a thing.
Ironically, not teaching every day may have been what gave her the time to start reading about educator stress and teacher burnout. She read about useful tools such as the Maslach Burnout Inventory. She discovered the research on how frequently teachers were leaving the profession. And googling “teacher well-being”, she discovered the Teacher Self-Care Conference.All well and good, but this advice would have helped her more when she started teaching. Not when it felt as if it were already over.
So she decided to share her story, her research findings, and the techniques that have helped her come back in her latest book, The Teacher Self-Care Manual: Simple Strategies for Stressed Teachers. The emphasis is definitely on the simple. Patrice looks at ways of changing deeply ingrained beliefs and habits that do more harm than good. She also suggests some ways to take inventory of your state and focus on the positive.
But lest you think teacher self-care is something that you can put off, Patrice has an interesting warning:
“When I returned to part-time teaching after an 18-month break, I never regained the passion I had so I think it is critical to avoid burning out in the first place and find ways to be and stay well and practice self-care!”
Read the whole post, “Why I finally told my story of burn-out,” on Patrice’s blog.
Check out the book below or scroll down to find ways to stay in touch with Patrice.
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Teacher Self Care Manual$3.20 – $10.00 incl tax
Hear Patrice Speak or Follow Her on Social Media
- Patrice will be speaking about self-care and teacher burnout conferences all over the US and Canada. Here’s her schedule for the rest of 2019 and the beginning of 2020.
- If you’d like her to speak at your event or do a workshop, you can contact her directly.
- You can also follow her on Twitter, Facebook. or Instagram for more inspiration.
- And please do let others know about this book. You can share this post or the book page on social media, email a friend you think might like it, and/or leave a review wherever you bought it.
Thank you for spreading the word!
