Teaching: side effects may occur the conditions of teaching leading to burnout

This thesis is about teacher burnout experienced by me, a young public educator teaching in a Title 1 school in rural Iowa. Teachers have been leaving their positions at an alarming rate with little done to help the educators themselves. This research explores what has already been written about what educators can do to help their well-being while teaching within the public education system. It also explores the specific conditions within teaching that impact a teacher’s burnout. I combined my skills as an artist, researcher, and teacher to dive deeper into what was causing my burnout as a teacher and why simple self-care suggested by the research was not enough to alleviate the feelings of emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and decreased lack of accomplishment. Through making, researching, and teaching, I was able to create new meaning and understanding of the conditions of teaching in a public school and how that affects my experience of burnout.