About My Learning Environment
Combating Teacher Burnout and Stress
For decades, educators have increasingly felt the pressures of their profession impede their personal and professional lives due to the demands of being a teacher. Curry and O’Brien (2012) stated that “teacher attrition is a growing concern for the U.S. educational system.” A teacher's daily tasks include creating lesson plans and implementing instructions. It is known that their work includes creating and implementing instruction for a host of scholars, but what is overlooked are the number of meetings, the micromanaging, long hours spent outside of work, and low compensation affects their mental health. Curry and O’Brien (2012) noted that teachers face daily work-related and institutional stress factors that include managing challenging student behaviors, lack of planning time, and an increased emphasis on accountability measures to support effectiveness. Many districts around the country struggle with teacher retention from year to year because teachers lack the proper training to advocate for themselves personally and professionally due to the burnout that they experience on a day-to-day basis. In conclusion, many districts around the country struggle to retain their teachers due to them feeling undervalued and lacking adequate training to implement self-care and advocate for themselves.
My Learning Enviornment
Needs Assessment:
Many educators struggle with identifying that they are affected by burnout and its implications. Maslach and Leiter (1997) researched a group of educators and found they were chronically exhausted, became cynical and detached from their work, and felt increasingly ineffective on their job.
Research has shown that something needs to be done to help combat the increased rate experienced educators leave the profession. Watt’s (2009) examination of mindfulness training and teacher outcomes supports my argument for this professional development. Here the authors documented that educators who participated in their study felt more valued and were willing to stay at their schools two times the average rate. Teacher empowerment allows teachers to feel their best and be effective in their profession.
According to Smith and Ragan (2005), there are three needs assessments problem, discrepancy and innovation. A problem model needs assessment was conducted to help identify the issue and determine the best course of action to address the issue of burnout for educators. First, it was determined that a problem needed to be addressed.
- The problem is that educators are leaving the profession at an alarming rate due to the burnout and anxiety that they experience daily. The following questions were answered below to help determine:
-As Rosenow (2012) stated, teachers, describe many issues of being overworked, external pressures, and lack of compensation and opportunities for professional growth (p. 88). These stressors cause teachers to be burnt out and not feel that they can thoroughly do their jobs. This affects the teachers, scholars, and schools because the teachers lack the self-efficacy to properly do their jobs which causes them to want to leave the profession.
-A solution to this problem may be that learners participate in a course that focuses on self-care and creating self-care routines to reduce the amount of stress and burnout that they feel daily.
-The retention rate for educators staying in the classroom is decreasing at an alarming rate, especially in urban school areas. Having teachers who can put themselves first for the sake of their mental health to ensure that they are their best selves for the students will only make a more substantial impact on their scholars and schools.
This will allow educators and their administrators to work together for the greater good of the students because teachers will ensure to advocate for not only their students but also themselves.
Learner Characteristics:
Demographic Characteristics
The learners of this course may vary in their cultural and academic backgrounds and will play a major role in how learners view the materials presented to them. Due to the one requirement of a Bachelor's level degree in the field that they teach along with a state-based teaching credential, the learners will all have this common background. Despite this similarity, learners differ in age and years of experience which relates to socio-economic status. Based on the learners years in the profession will determine their pay, so their age and socioeconomic status will vary. Other factors that will vary are the learner's ethnicity, sexual orientation, and marital status.
Physiological Characteristics
The physiological characteristics are vital and require an instructional designer to look at a learner’s sensory perception, general health, and age (Smith & Ragan, 2005). The learner’s general health will not be affected and their age will not have an impact on the effects of the course. This is because the learning will be differentiated based on interests and/or conflicts. This also applies to the learner's sensory perception. The learner will not engage in physical activity during professional development.
Cognitive Characteristics
Smith and Ragan (2005) argued that an educator's cognitive characteristics are one of the essential elements necessary to help target a specific audience and must be identified for many reasons. The first reason is to acknowledge that an educator must pass a multitude of exams to demonstrate proficiency in one’s content knowledge and pedagogy to be in the field. The targeted learners for this program are proficient in reading skills, knowledge comprehension, and communication skills when interacting with their scholars and peers. They can work with their peers and independently for the greater good of their scholars and school community.
Prior Knowledge. Prior knowledge is defined as a multidimensional and hierarchical entity that is dynamic in nature and consists of different types of knowledge and skills (Hailikari et al., 2008). The prior knowledge that the intended audience must possess is knowing what burnout is and how it affects personally daily. They will also need to comprehend the purpose of an effective self-care routine that allows them to feel better and do their jobs better. This can be done by teachers setting boundaries for their time while at work. Educators must also understand that effective communication is vital in any profession. If the learner cannot demonstrate understanding of these basic skills, they will not effectively master the learning objectives. If learners cannot demonstrate mastery (i.e., 80%) of prerequisite skills, then the learner will need to complete the required readings and reflective journal entries before beginning the course.
Motivation. The motivation of the participant may vary due to the circumstances of their situation. Smith and Ragan (2005) mention that learners learn best when they are motivated. The motivation of the learner is predicted to be high. This is because the learner most likely has registered for professional development on their own. This course is not intended for individuals to take unless they are willing to participate. If the learner is required to attend the professional development because their school site mandates them to, learners may be less likely to opt into the material initially. For either case, the instructor must be intentional in their attitude and behavior. The energy that they are giving to their audience will be reflective.
Social Characteristics
Due to the intended audiences having a vast number of differentiated levels of experience, the social connection between their peers will differ. It is predicted that educators will group off with peers who equate to the same experience. The wall must be broken for many reasons. First, it allows for educators early in the field to feel more at ease. Second, it will enable the learners to learn from each other and not think that only the novice learners have all the answers. Lastly, it allows the community to build relationships and be willing to help one another during a difficult or stressful time.
Potential Issues with Power, Equity, and Inclusion. Pajares (2009) stated that self-efficacy is the learner’s self-perception in the capabilities that they hold about themselves. The developmental levels range drastically for this course since educators' ages differ. Because of this reason, the learners' self-efficacy will vary as well. For novice educators, their self-efficacy may be lower than for educators who have been in the classroom for years or even decades.
Support for Equity, Access and Inclusion:
Educators face many challenges while in their careers. Educators in urban areas have more of a struggle because their district has less access to finances, resources, and other systematic structures that cause their professions to be more complex than expected. Examples include lack of access to technology, wifi, facility space, or financial resources. Although these limitations could affect how the course runs and will be implemented, these factors were considered in preparation for this program. For example, school sites will have the option to access hard copies of the workbooks inside the virtual documents if internet access is not readily available. Also, the facilitator will have a downloaded version of the presentation on their computer and personal projector so they would not have to rely on the internet to present the material. The facilitator can use larger poster paper, posters, markers, and notepads. The course will also offer payment plans and discounted packages for learners who choose the virtual asynchronous option. These equity, access, and inclusion issues were addressed with reference to the UDL guidelines that provide learners with multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression (CAST, 2018).
Learning Enviornment Design:
This course aims to give educators a space to decompress while they become familiar with identifying what makes them happy and relaxed. Educators will create a self-care routine to help decrease the amount of stress and burnout that they feel due to the pressures of their careers.
The design of the learning environment and the delivery of instruction is student-centered. There will be moments where the learning will be individualized or collaborative throughout the course. Individualized activities were selected because they allow for reflection. Collaborative activities were integrated to establish a learning community, take advantage of different perspectives, and promote authentic learning (Gunwardena, 2019). This learning environment can be synchronous or asynchronous depending on the choice of the learners’ school site, as stated previously. If the course is presented in-person, then the space will already have furniture provided. The facilitator will have to reorganize the room to accommodate the flow of the course workshop. The tables also need space to provide water, tissues, snacks, and writing/art supplies. The space needs to have wall space so that anchor chart paper can be accessible. The speaker system for the room will need to be accessible so that the facilitator can play peaceful music while the learners work individually on the self-care routine plans. If the course is being presented virtually, then the facilitator will ensure that their virtual background is relaxing and peaceful and playing relaxing music while learners are working individually. The facilitator will ensure that learners feel comfortable taking screen breaks or stepping away if need be. There will not be any recordings because the course has three different options for learners to partake in.
Some of the learning environment’s limitations may be the lack of space to create breakout groups, not having enough outlets in the room, no access to a projector screen, or lack of funding. To help support these limitations, the facilitator will ensure to have poster paper, markers, extension cords, and a personal projector to help aid in these limitations.
References:
CAST (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. Retrieved from http://udlguidelines.cast.org
Curry, J. R., PhD., & O'Brien, E. R., Ph.D. (2012). Shifting to a wellness paradigm in teacher education: A promising practice for fostering teacher stress reduction, burnout resilience, and promoting retention. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 14(3), 178-191.
Gunawardena, C. N., Frechette, C., & Layne, L. (2019). Culturally inclusive instructional design: A framework and guide for building online wisdom communities. Routledge.
ISBN: 978-1-138-21786-7
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. (1997). The truth about burnout: How organizations cause personal stress and what to do about it. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
Pajares (2009). Self-efficacy theory. Education.com
Rosenow, D. (2013). Stress, burnout and self-esteem among educators. Journal of Border Educational Research, 4(1), 87-92.
Smith, P. L., & Ragan, T. J. (2005). Web chapter 1: Designing delivery and management
strategies. Instructional design (Third Edition). Available:
http://higheredbcs.wiley.com/legacy/college/smith/0471393533/
Watts, D. M. (2010). Enabling school structure, mindfulness, and teacher empowerment: Test of a theory (Order No. AAI3390602). Available from APA PsycInfo®. (759137025; 2010-99150-342).