Teachers Should Not Feel Like They Are Not Enough
Why this feeling builds and what helps in the moment
It Is Not One Thing
Some days teaching feels like a pressure cooker.
It feels like what you are doing is never enough.
It feels like you are not enough.
And you know that is not actually true.
You are prepared.
Your relationships are solid.
Still, the second half of the year brings a different kind of strain.
Top down mandates start stacking.
One more assessment.
One more data meeting.
Another set of state practice prompts.
You start to feel your autonomy slipping away.
You leave school drained.
You leave knowing tomorrow will bring more of the same.
You leave wondering how much more of this you can take.
Nobody is Looking for Easy
Teachers know a demanding workload is part of the job.
Heat of the moment and unexpected behavior flare ups are part of the job.
Surprises happen.
What teachers struggle with most is not one identifiable problem.
It is the accumulation that builds as the year moves on.
Behavior concerns expand.
Attention and engagement become daily struggles.
Parent and administrative support wane.
You feel as though you are on a ship without an anchor
When Everything Stacks
Under normal conditions, most of teaching’s demands are manageable. Even busy days have a rhythm. Things start, things end, and there are moments to reset before moving on.
What changes in the second semester is not the work itself. It is the compression.
As demands stack without release, the brain’s working memory becomes overloaded. Without seeing everything clearly, you don’t know what to keep or what to put back on the shelf for later.
There is too much to track at once, and no clear way to organize what matters most in the moment. Your brain is not designed to hold all of this continuously.
What you need is not more effort.
You need a way to reduce what your brain is carrying at any given moment.
What You Need Are Fixer Uppers, Not Overhauls
You don’t need to redesign your teaching.
You don’t need to rework your routines
You don’t need to push harder.
What helps when everything stacks is unloading what does not serve the moment.
That means small, intentional downshifts that allow the brain to reset and reprioritize.
None of these change the workload, but they can change how it feels.
These strategies change how the brain responds to stress.
They reduce reactive responses before they escalate.
Pause the room for 30 seconds
Stand. Breathe together. Shake it out.
This is not mindfulness. It is a reset. It signals closure before moving on.Let students talk before you teach.
One minute. Turn and talk. No outcome required.
It offloads emotional and cognitive buildup so attention can re-enter the room.Drop one demand on purpose.
Shorten the task. Skip the last question. End early.
Your brain needs completion more than coverage.Use a call-and-response to reset tone.
Not to control behavior, but to synchronize energy.
When the room aligns, your nervous system can too.
You are not failing.
You are carrying too much at once
Thanks for reading.
If this resonated, you can explore more of the thinking behind this work here.