A Highly Sensitive Person CAN be a Happy, Healthy Teacher

There have been many times I have said that my teaching job is slowly killing me.

I have had mornings when I secretly wished that I would get hit by a truck on the way to school so that I did not have to endure another day of the nonstop stress that the act of teaching created in my body.

I have often believed that, because of my inability to physically deal with the over stimulation I encountered everyday in the classroom, I HAD to quit teaching and find another job.

Over the years, the stress from teaching has caused insomnia, stomach distress, skin problems, and heart palpitations.

So, what kept me going?

I knew in my heart that I was born to be a teacher.

However, I also knew that I could not and would not keep living this way.

I have been determined to work hard at make teaching the right job for me as a highly sensitive person. 

These changes in thinking have helped me find more joy in teaching and I believe they can help you if you are a highly sensitive teacher.

Know in your head and heart that you ARE a highly sensitive person. 

 

The first step I took was to become very informed of what it means to be a highly sensitive person. I took the quiz (several times to be sure) and have read the book The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine N. Aron. Just understanding your unique traits and why your body reacts the way it does, will help you begin to make some small changes.

I did not realize that me being highly sensitive to over stimulation was anything unusual until nine years ago when a friend of mine noticed my response to a stimulating situation. We were at a three day conference in Boston. One evening, we went to a social event. Hundreds of people were mingling about, jostling me, coming up and talking to us, while loud music was playing, people were dancing and talking, and food was being served. I told her I needed to find a quiet spot for us to sit. She saw a pale look of terror on my face that she hadn't seen before and it occurred to her that I could not handle the chaos of the party. She said that it did not effect her at all.

After that, I started to pay attention to how I reacted to over stimulation. I became aware how easily overwhelmed and emotional it made me. It didn't seem to cause that in other people.

Years later when book The Highly Sensitive Person came out, I learned that being highly sensitive to over stimulation is a real phenomenon based on scientific research and I immediately recognized myself as a highly sensitive person. I looked back at my life and saw how it shaped my experiences.

This knowledge has helped me understand why I often felt sick and exhausted when I teach and I've started making small changes that have helped me to have more good days than exhausted overwhelmed day.

Accept and embrace the fact that you CAN'T change certain things about your highly sensitive self.

 

Over the years, when I've talked to my husband about my daily suffering and my desire to quit my job,  he would respond  with something like, "You need to get a handle on that. Don't care so much. Don't try to do so much. Don't let things bother you." He doesn't understand, I can't stop caring and I can't stop letting certain things bother me.  I can't change the fact that too much noise, chaos, interruptions, and stimulating classroom environments cause my face to flush, my stomach to churn, and my heart to race.

Knowing this fact, I can stop trying to change myself and start working on the things I can and MUST change; my routines, my environment, my hours, my schedule, and my mindset.

Learn to view your high sensitivity as a POSITIVE thing.

 

To perform our job well, we have to feel good about ourselves.

Elaine N. Aron, in her book The Highly Sensitive Person says that "much of our difficulty at work is our not appreciating our style and potential contribution."

Instead of cursing my high sensitivity traits, I have learned to love the role that I play in children's lives as a highly sensitive teacher. Highly sensitive people are caring, fair, conscientious, creative, and empathetic. Who wouldn't want a teacher with those traits?

Figure out how to organize your teaching (and my life) around your highly sensitive traits and find YOUR own unique teaching style. 

 

Highly sensitive people are content and at our best when we are not overstimulated, hungry, or worn out. In fact, we are quite amazing when our energy is not depleted and our nervous system frazzled. We are able to respond and think on our feet. We are creative, imaginative and fun.

Elaine N. Aron says that "The biggest cost to us being highly sensitive is that our nervous system can become overloaded quickly." We need to learn how maintain an optimal level of arousal all day and NOT feel bad about doing so.

This means reflecting on your own situation and look for solutions in light of your traits.

Stop searching outside of yourself. Look within. Ask hard questions.

What is overstimulating for you? What can you change? What is hard to change because of your traits, but you need to change it anyway? (For example, we tend to be conscientious and perfectionists and it is hard to be open to certain changes, but we must for our nervous system) What are you doing because others said you need to be doing it? What are you doing because it works for someone else? What are you saying yes to that you could say no to? Why are you doing what you are doing? What do you need to stop doing and what do you need to start doing?

As you find solutions and organize your classroom and your life so that it keeps you at optimal levels of stimulation, you will learn more about yourself and find your own unique style of teaching. As a result, you will become a more effective, happier, and healthier teacher.

Starting the Day Underwhelmed

Overwhelmed

I should have known better. Every year I make the same mistake. I don't listen to myself and trust my own teaching instincts.

Because of that, each day in my classroom last week started out chaotic.

I'm sure it didn't look chaotic to an outside observer. But in my insides, there was chaos.  My head was spinning, my stomach was churning, my mouth was getting dry, and my face was starting to burn. I could feel myself talking faster and with a higher pitch.

I was getting overwhelmed. Quickly. First thing in the morning. And as a highly sensitive person, avoiding the feeling of being overwhelmed is the most important thing I can do to conserve my much needed teaching energy.

When highly sensitive people get overwhelmed, they have more trouble thinking on their feet, saying the right things and making decisions. Being overwhelmed makes highly sensitive people much less effective teachers.

So what was I doing wrong?

My students knew the routine. They knew how to come in, sign up for lunch, read the message, and start their morning work.

The problem was the morning work.

I listened to what the rest of the 4th grade teachers were doing for morning work and being the conscientious team member that I am, I thought I should be doing what they were doing. Even though, deep down, a voice was telling me it was the wrong decision.

The morning work was differentiated at three different levels. It was a Daily Math packet with math problems for students to do Monday through Thursday. The intention of the packet is to cover the many different skills learned in 4th grade. The preparation for this was easy. I simply had to make the three different packets and it would last the entire week. The problem with the packet was that there were too many items that students needed help with.  So it meant I needed to do lots of on the spot one-on-one teaching.

Picture this. Ten or more students standing in a line at my desk, all needing help on different problems. Me quickly teaching each problem to the students while trying to attend to other morning procedures such as attendance, lunch count, collecting notes and homework. Students waiting not so patiently in line as I thrown in little lessons of how to wait your turn and not interrupt when I am talking to another student.

The room is a buzz of chaotic activity.

Not the way I want to start my day.

A Better Way to Start the Day 

 

After reflecting on why I came home so drained all week, here is how I now start my day.

Students have been taught how to come into the classroom, sign up for lunch, read the morning message on the board and begin the morning work that is in their folders.

The morning work takes more time to prepare. But the results are worth it.

It is never a new skill. It always a review or application of something they have learned. It reinforces what we've been working on during the day.

When students complete their morning work, they go to the correction table and correct their own work. They bring it to me for a quick check. If they got something wrong, I ask them to tell me why they think they got it wrong. Then, they put it into their mailbox.

Students can move onto a choice. I have a list to choose from called "What Can I Do When I Am Done?" It includes a variety of independent activities such a read, write, quiet games, draw, puzzles, and computer games.

I use this time to first attend to my clerical duties and then help individual students. I usually pull a couple students who I think made need help to sit with at a round table as I check other students' morning work. 

The room has a soft hum of productive activity.

This is the way I love to start my day.

Creating Your Ideal Classroom Environment

Highly sensitive people need to have some control over their environment.

As a teacher, you may think you have very little control, but you have a lot more than you may think.

Having control over your work environment is one reason that teaching can be a good job for highly sensitive people.

The following strategy will help you begin to take some control over your job.

At the same time, it will help you start creating an ideal classroom environment for your highly sensitive self.

One that is energy giving, not energy draining.