15 Tips to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Posted May 26th, 2009 in Primary, Middler, Junior
  1. Attend a Children’s Ministry Seminar. Learn how to be a more effective teacher and “ignite your passion” for ministry at the Children’s Ministry Seminar. For more information, log on to http://www.rbpstore.org/about/rbpTrainingbu.cfm
  2. Plan your Sunday School lesson in smaller increments. Choose the best way to tackle your lesson preparation every week. Try this method: Monday - read the Scripture text. Tuesday - meditate on the Scripture text. Wednesday - pray for each student. Thursday - finalize your theme and read the lesson guide thoroughly and choose the activities. Friday - review the lesson guide and practice. Saturday - prepare needed materials and review lesson.
  3. Connect with a friend. It’s important to connect with others for fellowship and encouragement. This is a great opportunity to share prayer requests and God’s work in your life.
  4. Count your blessings (1 Thess. 5:18). Take time to “see what God has done.” How is God working in your life and in the lives of your students?
  5. Explore a new hobby. A new hobby can be a fun way to relax and take your mind off teaching.
  6. Focus on Christ (Phil. 3:10). He is the reason you are teaching!
  7. Host a get-together for teachers. Sharing stories, teaching tips, and prayer requests with your fellow teachers will help you renew your sense of purpose for teaching.
  8. Identify time wasters. Learn to say no, avoid procrastination, and stay organized. If you’re doing too much, it’s easy to wait until Saturday night, if not Sunday morning, to prepare your lesson. Yikes! This isn’t the best way to get ready for Sunday, and you may find you’re missing necessary supplies.
  9. Nourish your spiritual growth (John 6:35). When you feel depleted by teaching, turn to God and His Word to strengthen you.
  10. Organize your materials (1 Cor. 14:40). if you take the time to organize your materials at the beginning of the quarter, the quarter will progress much more smoothly. Some ideas would be to use large Ziploc freezer bags to separate flannelgraph by lessons. Use file folders or large manila envelopes to sort patterns, student book pages, and other papers according to lessons.
  11. Pray for your students (John 17:9). God has given you those students for a purpose. Praying for your students will revive your soul as you think about their needs.
  12. Schedule time to relax and refresh (Mark 6:30, 31). Christ knew the importance of coming apart for a time, and we need to follow His example.
  13. Take care of your body with sleep and exercise. We function better and have more energy when we properly maintain our body with sleep and exercise.
  14. Team teach. Team teaching allows you to share strengths with other teachers, gives the children more attention, and diminishes your preparation time. Another variation is rotate teaching to every other week. Both teacher 1 and teacher 2 are in class each week, but the first two weeks teacher 1 is teaching. The next two weeks teacher 2 teaches. And then back to teacher 1 again. Both options are great for the teacher and the children.
  15. Uplift others (Phil. 2:2, 3). When we uplift others, we usually find ourselves uplifted. If you feel burned out, you will benefit by uplifting someone else who may be feeling the same way.