Making it through February

Hello everyone,

I will be gone until next Thursday, taking some much-needed vacation days.

In consequence of some conversations with first-year teachers, I have decided to reprint an email from a year ago:

The A-trackers among you won't feel this, but to the rest of the world, February is often one of the most difficult months to teach. I grant that, in a year-round calendar, March and April can be pretty rough, too, but traditionally, February is the toughest. It's after the holidays; Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day hardly compensate for the lengthy time to the end of the year; and things just loom endlessly before us.

I'm not saying this to depress you all. I mean to suggest that, if you feel depressed (even just a little during the next month or three), it's normal. Don't let it turn to despair. This, too, shall pass.

You might consider a few strategies to help:
1. Simplify things. Get back to the basics of your profession. Keep in mind that teaching should not take every waking moment of your life, and many great teachers accomplish their goals working the required eight hours (class plus outside time) a day.
2. Throw away all the old catalogs if you don't have an immediate need for them. In fact, feel free to throw away all the junk mail.
3. Don't forget to get some exercise and eat a balanced diet. It has an influence on stress and depression.
4. Pick one of the standards that you really love and teach it. (This works especially well for English teachers, but I'm guessing that every discipline can find a way to make it work.) I always saved my favorite literature for the toughest time of year because it cheered me up.
5. Find a teacher friend to dump your problems on. They're the only ones who really understand.
6. Don't forget to laugh. A good sense of humor will take you a long way.

Jeff Combe