Open Mic - Caring TOO Much

I am going to take this open mic post to use as my own personal therapy session. Over the past few months I am facing a similar dilemma over and over again: caring too much! I was told by a veteran teacher, “Once you start caring too much, that’s when you start getting into trouble” and I have begun to see that take place in my life when it comes to my kids. Without going into too much detail, I have a student who has become very attached to me and even calls me “mom”. Her mother has acknowledged that her daughter responds better to my directions than her own for some reason, and has asked me to have one-on-one chats with the student on several occasions about issues they are facing. I don’t mind helping out, but the other night my substitute parent role got out of hand when I was asked to get involved in something I wasn’t comfortable with. Long story short, DFACS ended up getting involved, and I feel guilty for not doing more to help the situation. Those close to me have told me to step back and realize that there is nothing I can do. In a two week span I had to deal with a student who was sent to alternative school, a student who was arrested, a student who is threatening to drop out, and a student who confided in me that her mother is dying. I love these kids as if they were my own, but I feel that is starting to get me in trouble. I worry about them constantly, I try to “save” them from their problems, and I talk about “my kids” all the time. I know that I am a caring individual who wants to solve everyone’s problems, but that very fact is becoming my own issue. Am I being too whiny? Does anyone else feel my pain? How do I turn off caring too much?

Don't Be Afraid to Ask for Help!

Imagine that a new CTE teacher has taken over the program across the hall from you. This teacher came straight out of his/her occupation into teaching and won't be able to begin NTI until the summer. What is one piece of advice (just one) that you would give this person to survive the semester? Why would you choose this piece of advice? Advice I would give a new teacher across the hall is to stay strong and not be afraid to reach out to their colleagues for even the smallest amount of information. I joined a group that had 3 other CTAE teachers and they were very helpful to me. They assisted with lesson plans all the way to making copies. My transition to teaching high school was a bit of a culture shock because although I had taught college courses, high school students are a completely different set of rules. If the new teacher has as many outside of work responsibilities as me I would definitely advise them on a few different time management tactics that I've developed since becoming a CTAE teacher. K-12 instruction includes a lot more paperwork so setting a particular planning period on a specific day to complete it all is helpful. They won't have a pool of lesson plans to pull from so completing 2 weeks at a time would really help them. And definitely add important dates to a wall calendar and cellphone with reminders. Being "new" anywhere can add extra amount of stress to a situation so asking for help can smooth the transition.