en·er·gy/noun: the strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity

One crucial but often unrecognized aspect of resilience is educators’ ability to manage the high levels of emotional and physical energy required across decades-spanning careers, a challenge that has been intensified by the pandemic.

Such resilience has a number of sources:

Good health is obviously fundamental. Without physical and emotional health, it is difficult to sustain the energy required throughout the day and across a school year. While aging may take a toll on that energy, many educators remain vital into their 60s and beyond, with a few even reaching their 70s and even 80s.

Viewing teaching as a calling, not just as an occupation (see previous post). While the occupation of teaching provides many tangible and intangible benefits, my experience has been that teachers and administrators who experience their work as a calling are better able to sustain high levels of energy during difficult times.

Competency. We are more motivated to do things when we feel competent doing them. Career-long professional learning in various forms is essential to that competency.

Positive professional relationships. Such relationships are particularly powerful when they are established through strong teamwork within cultures of continuous improvement.

Emotional positivity. Because emotions are contagious, the overall emotional health of the school community is an important factor in career-long resilience.

Continuous cycles of goal setting and planning. Such practices and routines create and sustain energy and momentum across the weeks of a school year and between school years.

Successfully managing the overlap between the personal and professional spheres of life. Educators’ work often extends beyond the school day in the form of planning, marking papers, and evening meetings. In addition, teachers and administrators inevitably bring home the problems faced by students and their families and the unpredictable and often emotionally-laden challenges that are part of their daily work. And during the pandemic, the classrooms and homes of many teachers have been the same place.