When Teaching {Inevitably} Gets Stressful

What do you do?  When teaching gives you lemons, how do you react?  How do you cope?  As we all know, teaching does get stressful.  Teaching does get hard.  And most of all, teaching does get frustrating.  Parents, data organization, observations, discipline, conferences, report cards, scheduling changes, school mandates, and on and on.  The things they never teach you in school.

My first reaction is to cry.  That's just how I cope.  Preferably in a corner where nobody else sees me or draws attention to me.  {I don't love this quality about me...} But then my second reaction {and probably the most appropriate of the two} is to grab my mentor teaching texts.  Such as Wondrous Words by Katie Wood Ray.  Or Still Learning to Read by Franki Siberson.

These are my lifelines.  My friends.  My confidants.  They remind me of what's important, what matters, and help me clear up or fix any problems.  When I'm stressed, I look to these guys to help me focus on what's important.  Or when a new school mandate frustrates me, I look to these guys to figure out how I'm going to make it work in my classroom.  I find solace in these books.  Their flagged pages, broken and unglued spines, highlighted quotes, notes in the margins, and folded down corners remind me of how far I've come as a teacher.  And how much further I have to go.  They help put me in my place.

And after I reference my teaching books, I go to your blogs.  Your wonderful, wonderful blogs make me laugh, nod my head in agreement, and learn.  Y'all help me grow- so thank you.

I started writing this post because I ran across this article a few weeks ago and started thinking about books and how they impact teachers.  I've read most of the books on this list and absolutely love some of them!  Some of them just don't do it for me...

Peter Johnston... Always a favorite!

Which books are your besties?  Your go-tos?  Please share.  I'm always looking for a new friend!