Educating with Passion and Purpose

Chapter 2Purpose and Burnout

“A burnt out teacher isn't willing to engage the class with enthusiasm and openness. They always approach teaching as a routine that'll just get them to the end of the day.”

—Tevin, Class of 2013

Especially over the past couple of years, burnout has become a catch‐all term to describe the malaise educators feel as a result of the pandemic, but it actually has a clinical definition. The Mayo Clinic defines burnout as “a special type of work‐related stress—a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity.”¹ Obviously, teachers experience all kinds of “work‐related stress” (anyone who's tried to make copies on an ancient copy machine ...