3 Tips to Prevent Teacher Burnout When Even Lunch Is Stressful

“Duty-Free Lunch”? Tell That to Your To-Do List.

Just when you think you should be collapsing in your chair to take a breather, you push the adrenaline button that allows you to accomplish fifteen tasks simultaneously:

• Connect students with native speakers for their 15 minutes of all-Spanish conversation
• Dash to the copy machine to make last-minute copies you were SURE you had but don’t (how could you have forgotten them AGAIN?!)
• Stand in line for the ONLY machine that is working today, looking at your watch the entire time
• Answer questions about grade percentages
• Give returning students their missing assignments
• Fix a mistake on your lesson plan for the next period
• Tell a colleague about an important event.

THANK YOU FOR MY DUTY-FREE LUNCH!  However, I will wait until my prep period to eat, because eating while writing my lesson plans is much less apt to give me acid reflux than eating during my Duty-Free Lunch!

Someone, please tell me when the “stress-free” part of my duty-free lunch begins!

Stress Management for Teachers: Protect Your Time and Energy.

1. Learn to Say No

If I could tell my younger teacher self something, it would be this: Just say no.

That’s hard for me. What if my principal thinks ill of me? What if my V.P. doesn’t know about ACTFL and comprehensible input? What if no one teaches AP Spanish? What if the teachers in my department don’t prepare the students sufficiently before they get to me?

Have you noticed that the hardest-working teachers get assigned extra duties? Your admin notices how effective you are, and that makes you a target. Never mind that you’re already the last one to leave, your lone car sitting in the harsh glow of a parking lot light. Never mind that you’re already functioning on five hours of sleep a night.

Why can’t admin ask someone else? Oh. Teacher A coaches and has to leave early. Teacher B doesn’t have the training and will never get it—because she “doesn’t want to work that hard.” And Teacher C “has a family.” Of course I don’t, because I’m either at school or at home lesson planning. When would I find time to date? (I’m married now, but for many years, I didn’t have time to date. Sad.)

I recommend practicing what you will say when the “invitation” comes, so you don’t default into acceptance. So you’re mentally ready when your principal warms you up with knee-weakening statements like, “You’re the best teacher on this campus. Only you can do it!”

Here is one possible response: Thank you for your confidence in me. But I can’t take on another responsibility and still give my students the preparation they deserve.

A Tale of Two Woes: Here is What Happened:

I led a workshop on lesson planning for our staff, along with many other workshops for the district. I spent many hours doing the V.P.’s job (before we got an excellent V.P. What? You mean SHE was supposed to be doing all that all this time?) I chaired committees, distributed literature on evidence-based practice, explained comprehensible input to our administration and my colleagues, and participated in many other extra duties.

The result?

1. I contracted illness after illness as my body reacted to the stress.
2. The change in my department was barely detectable.

Don’t do what I did. The world will NOT end, and you’ll be a better teacher for it.

2. Hire a House Cleaner

Who has time to clean the house? After a week of teaching, planning, and grading, I’m too tired to clean the bathrooms. But the mess stresses me out. Once I budgeted for a house cleaner, my shoulders relaxed and my brain decluttered.

Yes, it costs money. But your time has value, too. Think about what you would gain: an afternoon with your family, time for something you enjoy, or a chance to sit down without staring at the dust on the bookshelves.

And please, skip the guilt. You don’t have to do every chore yourself to deserve a clean house—or a break.

If hiring help isn’t in the budget, take a look at how the chores are divided. If other people live in your house, keeping it clean can be a shared responsibility.

3. Stop Writing Lesson Plans

Delegate, delegate, delegate!

Seriously, lesson planning took 90% of my time. Instruction, test and essay correction, and classroom management somehow had to fit into the other 10%. (I just love calling parents, don’t you?)

I’ve already done the lesson plans and kid-tested them during 30 years of teaching! Why should you reinvent the wheel? These lesson plans do everything for you except teach and correct. (And with the many Google Forms quizzes and tests, they often correct for you, too.)

Click on the video below to learn more about the lesson plans.

Depending on your school’s enrollment and textbook costs, these resources could save your school tens of thousands of dollars. Where did I get that figure? I asked our district how much the materials cost for just one level.

Then I picked myself up from the floor.

Click on the images or the links below to explore the lesson plans. Spanish 1, 2, and 3 packages include complete textbooks with supplemental materials. The AP Spanish lesson plans and curriculum are based on the Vista Higher Learning Test-Preparation Booklet and Temas.  

TODOS PREPARADOS SPANISH 1 LESSON PLANS, CURRICULUM AND TEXTBOOK FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR

TODOS PREPARADOS SPANISH 2 LESSONS, CURRICULUM, AND TEXTBOOK

TODOS PREPARADOS SPANISH 3 LESSON PLANS, CURRICULUM & TEXTBOOK

AP SPANISH LESSON PLANS AND CURRICULUM FOR VHL (Updated for the 2026 CED)

Stay Calm!

Learn how to reduce teacher stress! Don’t do it all.

You don’t have to overhaul your teaching life overnight. Start with one change: dare to say no once.

Caring about your students doesn’t require giving them every minute of your day. You can be a dedicated teacher and still go home at a reasonable time, with time left for yourself and your family.

A rested teacher is a better teacher. Give yourself permission to be one.

FOR MORE IDEAS ON PREVENTING TEACHER BURNOUT, CLICK THE FOLLOWING LINK: HOW TO DO IT ALL

For more ideas on how to engage students, check out this blog post on Seven Activities that Guarantee 100% Student Engagement.

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