Author Archives: Julie Rust

A quick note addendum as I am knee-deep in the phase of blogging that I call “Oh shoot it’s Sunday and why did I start so many drafts of ideas and do so many interviews and how in the world am I going to get these things done by Monday night?” Act 1: What CanContinue reading “Outsourcing & Understanding”

You may or may not be surprised to hear that the sport of basketball has taken up a good amount of space in the Rust household the last year or two.  Whether it is the mini-hoop hanging in the living room, my husband yelling “STOP DRIBBLING THAT WHILE YOU ARE TALKING TO US AND SITContinue reading “What the Game of Basketball Can Teach Us About Teaching”

Every Wednesday morning, without fail, my phone dings with a message from an icloud account: “Friendship Club today? I’m ready.” I’m not going to say it’s the most important part of my job at St. Andrew’s, but sponsoring Elizabeth Bensler’s fifth grade Friendship Club every Wednesday at 12:10 in Josh Brister’s room definitely ranks upContinue reading “Just Ask the Kids: Checking for Understanding as a Function of Care”

This post would not be a thing without the generous Susan Pace investing many, many hours in fostering her young writers. Big thanks to seventh graders Sally Stover and Beck Ellis for sharing their amazing words with us. Quick note from Julie: There is something you first should know. Susan Pace is kinda a heroContinue reading “Seventh Grade Voices: Featuring FanFiction”

Authored by Susan Pace Recently, students in seventh-grade English were tasked essentially with writing a fan fiction of The Outsiders, a beloved novel for most middle schoolers and their parents.  Briefly, fan fiction is a piece of writing written either in the style of a favorite author or using the lore of a favorite book.Continue reading “Misadventures of a Writing Teacher”

Contributed by Kari East Honestly, I don’t know who is more excited for the holiday break, me or the kids?! I’m feeling ALL the things: stress, a sense of urgency, deciding what to prioritize, difficulty juggling work with my personal life. It all just feels like too much! I shared with a friend and coworkerContinue reading “Who Says Teaching is Stressful?”

Friends, you already loved Maria Edwards, Judy Menist, Rachel Scott, and Toby Lowe, but just wait. Their vulnerability, wisdom, and depth of stories in this particular podcast episode recorded on Friday the 13th (just the day before Toby got married) will undoubtedly move you.  Part therapy session, part love story, part call to action, episodeContinue reading “Season 8, Episode 2: Can We Talk About Burnout?”

Post contributed by (the magnificent) Margaret Mains As we officially wrap up the first semester of the school year, I have caught myself saying the plot is completely unbelievable at this point. For some reason, this year at St. Andrew’s has felt particularly zany.  A prime example being a literal (small and contained) fire inContinue reading “Dual Perspectives: From the Classroom to Admin”

You guys.   They moved my old refrigerator and beneath it there was SO. MUCH. BROWN. SLUDGE. I recoiled as if I was bit by a rat.  (I also wondered for a moment if a rat could be living in the sludge.) These are the two phrases that went through my mind again and again scrapingContinue reading “I Live in Abject Filth & Other Life Lessons”

If one of the keys to avoiding burnout is embracing change when the opportunity presents itself, Michelle Portera is doing something right.  Changing grade levels is a common move on the south campus, sometimes initiated by the interests of a given faculty member and sometimes triggered by necessity, the ebb and flow of class sizes. Continue reading “The Fresh Breeze of Change”

Last time, in his first installment of a very cool, very new column, David shared some documentaries that had been piquing his interest. This time, he shifts media to investigate a podcast episode that happens to do a whole lot with our theme of burnout. This weekend as I was going for my morning walk,Continue reading “What’s David Listening To?: This Too Shall Pass”

We so often talk about burnout in the mental health stance, in the psychological exhaustion and drained sense.  In the “I don’t have the motivation to do the thing” sort of way.  But what about the literal burn-out of a physical body?  Is our psychological burnout merely a foreshadowing, a gentle reminder, that we areContinue reading “Candles Burning Out”

This is a little ditty that riffs of the “ode genre” of poetry that I dedicate to all the Type A, list-writing, often-introverted humans out there (LIKE ME) that are surprised every single time they realize the do, indeed, very much need other humans to stay healthy, balanced, and productive.  I have to actively resistContinue reading “In Praise of Coffee Machines”

It was one of those steady-rain afternoons on south campus.  You could feel the pent-up energy of the third graders as they powerwalked from the lunchroom back to their classrooms.  But I had no time to join them; it was almost noon . . . time for a gathering of a Foundations PLC.  I rushedContinue reading “Why Knowing Your Colleague’s Enneagram Stress Number May Be the Cure to Burnout: A Glimpse into a Foundations PLC”

Contributed by Burton Williams-Inman Okay, so to be completely honest, this may end up being just as much a plug for Shadowing a Student as it is a blog on teacher burnout and stuff like that. It may even be a shameless plug for the teacher PD options, as a whole- let’s be clear, IContinue reading “Give the PD a Chance”

When the 24-25 cohort proposed we do “can we talk about burnout?” I almost guffawed.  Of COURSE we can talk about that.  That’s basically all we’ve talked about ever since I had the idea of mashing up faculty reps from all divisions to work together for a year of faculty growth implementation with TEAM.  AgainContinue reading “Can We Talk about Burnout?”

Those of us who are lucky enough to know David Bramlett know that there is much more to the man than mathematics.  On any given day, a conversation with David might begin with a fabulous veggie stir fry he just whipped up and then quickly diverge into part-film-review, part-critique-on-society.  Recently it hit me– with DavidContinue reading “What’s David Watching?”

Guys, I’ve got this really flashy cool new resources to find teaching materials. You ready? It’s called TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS. Sure stuff costs money,  But is $14.99 worth the 500 hours it would take me to meticulously create these templates on Canva myself out of my own brain?” Absolutely, times 100, or to quote myContinue reading “Ummm Have You Guys Heard about Teachers Pay Teachers?”

Have you ever noticed that some of us just seem more resilient than others?  Like I know this is a muscle that can be worked out, a practice that can be internalized.  But for real. It seems like some people are born with it. If this is the case, let it be known: I wasContinue reading “The Identity-Resilience Connection”

Authored by Kari East