Teachers Ed with Edward DeShazer

Midyear Reset For Educators

• Edward DeShazer

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January can feel like a 94‑day month, especially in schools. We open the door to a real midyear reset by naming the weight of this season and shifting from hype to honesty. Instead of treating wellness like a program, we walk through how staff morale reflects culture—how people feel in January is the truth serum for any school.


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www.EdwardDeShazer.org

SPEAKER_01:

And January is the perfect moment for this conversation. It is the time of the year when not just educators, but people are talking resolutions or talking wellness. But education, this is also a time when exhaustion starts to show up quietly.

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If you're an educator that's passionate, but you're tired and you're burnt out and you're wondering what to do next, this is the show for you. We're gonna learn together, we're gonna recharge together, and we're gonna grow together so you can be the best you and serve your students and your community to the best of your ability.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome back to the Teachers Ed podcast, the place where the best and brightest in education come to be inspired, to connect, to learn, to grow. I am your host, Edward DeShazer. And before I get going, I just want to say uh thank you. We have not been on live, we have not dropped a new episode in over a month. And if you're still here listening, uh truly appreciate you. The pause was not um accidental. Behind the scenes, I have been working on a rebrand for my business and for my content, really thinking about how I want to serve educators at the highest level. And I'm also in the process of moving into a new podcast studio in the near future. And I thought that may be happening sooner, um, which is gonna allow me to bring you better audio, better video episodes, better interviews, and much more consistent content. So while there has been a pause, there's also been some growth and some things that I have been working on, and I am excited about where this podcast is gonna head next. So let's jump right in. Uh, January isn't uh January, January in education isn't a fresh start, but it is really a checkpoint. The adrenaline from fall is gone, the workload feels heavy, and the finish line still feels miles and miles and miles away. So if you are feeling tired right now, that does not mean that you're failing. It means that you are human. This part of the year for educators is about recalibrating and not reinventing yourself, and that's exactly why staff wellness and staff morale are more, uh, they matter more now than they ever do. And today we're jumping back into the Building Bridges blueprint and we're diving into the third pillar, which is staff wellness and morale. For those that have been tracking and coming along, we've been going through them step by step, and I wanted to make sure I finish this process off before I get into the new studio and kind of make a shift on some of the content that we're doing. But if you've been following the the um pillars are leadership and communication, collaboration and teamwork, staff wellness and morale, and professional growth and recognition. And January is the perfect moment for this conversation. It is the time of the year when not just educators, but people are talking resolutions, they're talking wellness, but education, this is also a time when exhaustion starts to show up quietly. So this is not a new year, new you episode. This is a mid-year reset. Uh, let's be realistic, let's be grounded, and let's find something that is sustainable. And one of the biggest mistakes uh that schools make is treating wellness like it's an add-on. You have a committee, you have a spirit week, you have a one-time event, but here is the absolute truth about it. Staff wellness is not a program, but it is ultimately a reflection of your culture. You can tell how healthy a school is by how people feel in January. Do they feel supported or do they feel like they are just managed? Do they feel valuable or do they feel invisible? Do they feel trusted or are they constantly under pressure? Burned out staff don't need more motivation, they need fewer unnecessary stressors, they need clearer expectations and they need leadership that sees them as a human. Staff wellness is not a program, it's a culture signal. You can tell how healthy a school really is by how staff feel in January. Burnt-out educators don't need another motivational speech. They need clarity, they need trust, and they need leadership that reduces unnecessary stress at work. Wellness is not extra work, it is not an add-on. It is how you protect the people who are doing the work. And right now, one of the most powerful things that leaders can do is just tell the truth. January is heavy, especially if you're in northern United States cities, the days are shorter, the pace hasn't slowed at all, and the energy is just not what it was in September. When leaders pretend that everything is fine, you know that meme or the dog is just like sitting in the burning room drinking his coffee, like it's fine. Like that's what some leaders do. When leaders do that, staff feel isolated. When leaders name the reality and say, I know you're tired right now, I know this is stressful, I know January has 94 days. Staff start to feel understood. Normalizing fatigue does not lower the expectations, but it builds trust. And sometimes wellness it starts with permission. Permission that it's okay to be tired, uh, permission that as a staff member it's okay to reset, permission that it's okay to be a human. Uh, burnout isn't always about time off, it's really more about energy depletion. Educators give emotional energy all day long, whether you're managing behaviors, uh supporting students through stress, staying regulated, being on consistently. By January's most educators aren't exhausted because they don't care. They're exhausted because they've haven't been they've been giving too much without enough restoration. So if we want the morale to improve, we have to protect energy, not just calendars. Burnout, again, uh burnout isn't all about time, it's about energy. Burnout isn't about the time off, but the energy that people aren't restoring. Educators give emotional energy all day long, and by January, that tank is empty for so many people. You can take a day off and still feel exhausted if nothing is restoring you. Wellness improves when leaders protect energy and not just the schedule. So, some practical things that I want to give you that will help boost your morale. If you want this, if you want to support staff wellness right now, here are four things that can actually help you. First, most important, reduce one unnecessary stressor, shorten that meeting, clarify that expectation, eliminate a task that doesn't matter. Second, protect prep time and mental space. Constant interruptions drain energy faster than workload. Third, move from a generic praise to specific appreciation. An example is I see what you're doing goes further than great job. Like let them know in that moment exactly what you are seeing versus just like good job, staff members. And then fourth, we have to model wellness as a leader. When leaders begin to set boundaries, others feel their permission to do the same. Morale is not going to improve because you brought in some motivational speaker in January. It will improve with consistency. January does not require a full overhaul. In fact, when you do these big overhauls halfway through the year, that is actually how people burn out faster. Instead, what I want to challenge you, whether you're a teacher, whether you're a leader, to choose one wellness commitment for the rest of the year, just one. Leave on time one day a week. Take a daily walk. We did walking Wednesdays at our school, and our staff loved it. Like you just we we had people getting there earlier just to get their walks in, and sometimes they were just walking with another coworker, having a conversation that you don't get to have during a normal day. Uh, stop answering emails after a certain hour, ask for help sooner than you normally would ask for help. Small protected habits are sustainable, and sustainability in education has to be our goal. There's no long line of educators that are coming to save us. So we have to do the best with the ones that we have. And staff wellness and morale aren't soft topics, they are foundational. Healthy schools are built by healthy people, and healthy people are supported and not stretched beyond their capacity. Uh, January's heavy, but it also can be grounding. This does not have to be a month where morale dips even further. When leaders lead with clarity, uh, when leaders lead with humanity, when leaders lead with intention, the second half of the year can actually be stronger than the first. So, on the next episode, as I'm getting ready to close out the next episode, we're gonna go more into wellness and morale and give more detailed things uh because growing without wellness will will lead you guys straight to Burmound. And that's not what we need. We need healthy regulated educators. Your students need healthy regulated educators. So we have to find ways as school leaders, as educators, to be intentional with what we are doing for ourselves, how we are doing it, tracking our sleep. That's one of the things I made a post about. And you have to track your sleep. You look at your gas tank. Every time you get in the car, you look at your gas tank. How much gas do I have? Can I get where I'm trying to go? But when it comes to our sleep and our wellness, we are just going in your some of you. Have been your gas light has been on for years. It is time that you start checking your gas tank. That's all I got today. I wish I had some plug like, hey, use my code DESHASER for Aura Ring. I use an Aura Ring, but everyone needs to track their sleep. Apple Watches do it. There's a million different ways you can do it these days, but start tracking your sleep for me. Uh that's what we got. Again, I appreciate you all for sticking through in between the meantime of the last one and this one. Um, but make sure that we are continuing to do the things that we have to do. Uh, make sure that we are taking care of the students that we that we get the opportunity to work with, make sure that we are taking care of the people that we get the opportunity to work with. Uh, most importantly, make sure that you are uh taking care of yourself. If you have not, please leave a review. Please, uh, it can just be a star review. Please share this with another educator that you think could hear it. And until next time, uh keep taking care of everyone that you need to be taking care of, most importantly yourself. And we will see you back here next.

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Edward DeShazer

Host