Tag: classroom management

More on Teacher Care

paulkfoxLeave a comment

“Books & Links & Resources… Oh, My”

Now retired and “far from ground zero,” I admit I don’t have a clear roadmap nor “magic pill” for a definitive plan to remediate educator stress, burnout, exhaustion, demoralization, and negative school climate. My disclaimer: So-called “expert recommendations” on self-care strategies towards better health and wellness, coping skills, and time management may not be applicable to every setting, situation, nor individual need. In other words, no prescription can cure every educator’s symptoms.

However, recent conversations with those “still in the trenches” and colleagues who endured to those horrible COVID (and post-pandemic) years in the schools, we need to address “the elephant in the room” (views of systemic breakdowns and loss of admin or community supports) and propose fresh looks into self- and school system improvement plans.

My friend Thomas Bailey (who has created a comprehensive ethics course for PA teachers and admins alike – refer to these past blogs 1, 2, & 3) and I have heard many “horror stories” of day-to-day dysfunctions, micromanagement and disrespect of teachers, a general lack of support and professionalism, and unhealthy/unsustainable policies, practices, and patterns of work environments at school. We have witnessed angry parents storming school board meetings, staff shortages with some positions going unfulfilled for months or longer, uncertified teachers placed in classrooms, overloaded teaching schedules, classroom management problems, increased risks and incidents of school violence, class sizes on the rise, and significantly less educator planning time.

In short, according to the blog entitled Teacher Burnout Statistics – Why Teachers Quit in 2026, K-12 educators are in the most burned out profession in the world:

  • 57% of U.S. teachers reported burnout in 2026, versus 36% of similar working adults (RAND, 2026)
  • 18% of teachers intended to leave their jobs in 2026 (RAND, 2026)
  • Managing student behavior is the #1 source of teacher stress, cited by 52% of teachers (RAND, 2026)
  • 77% of teachers say their job is frequently stressful, and 68% say it is overwhelming (Pew Research Center, 2024)
  • 78% of teachers have thought about quitting since the pandemic (University of Missouri, 2025)
  • 74% of public schools struggled to fill at least one teaching vacancy for the 2024-25 school year (NCES)
  • K-12 teachers were the most burned-out profession in Gallup’s most recent occupational ranking, at 52% (Gallup, 2022)
  • About 8% of public school teachers leave the profession each year (NCES)
  • Teachers worked an average of 49 hours per week in 2025, about 10 more than they were contracted for (RAND, 2025)

So, since the intent for this paulfox.blog site is to serve as a depository of professional development and insightful conversations for career development, I feel there is a need to share any new “finds,” innovative ideas (even those considered controversial), research, and other resources with the hopes that they may spark even an infinitesimal growth in sustained advancements in personal and staff resilience, self-care, motivation and passion for teaching, and work/life balance… as well as the goal for philosophical and structural changes in school climate and culture in order to promote positive employee morale and wellbeing.

Past blogs on this subject (and, when available, their accompanying conference slides decks) should be reviewed:

If you peruse the above links to my past articles, you will find the mentioning of several outstanding books to begin your journey towards the rejuvenescence of self-care. Please beg, borrow, (ahem – steal?), or purchase these to begin.

The Lesley Moffat Series (both are SUPER!)

Click here for her website.

In addition to I Love My Job But It’s Killing Me and Love the Job, Lose the Stress, you should also check out her newest publication, The Balanced Band Director! Her notes:

Over the years, I realized something important:
Most band directors don’t need more ideas. They need fewer drains on their energy.
They need systems that respect their values, their standards, and their humanity.

That belief is at the heart of everything I share now—through my books, my podcast, my coaching, and the tools I’ve built specifically for music educators. The strategies I teach aren’t theoretical. They’re the same ones that have helped me and hundreds of others move from constant depletion to a career that still challenges me without consuming me.

Being a Balanced Band Director doesn’t mean lowering the bar.
It means removing the noise, the overload, and the unnecessary friction that makes this job harder than it has to be.

Upbeat – Mindset, Mindfulness & Leadership in Music Education & Beyond by Matthew Arau

Click here for his website.

The book is divided into three parts – Ignite, Inspire, and Lead – and addresses numerous topics such as these:

  • Self-care for optimal mental, emotional, and physical wellness
  • The transformative power of positivity and gratitude
  • Growth mindset
  • Mindful breathing and listening in an ensemble setting
  • Internal self-reflection to outward expressions of leadership …and more!

Valuable contributions by author Angela Watson

Click here for her website.

She defines the goal of Awakened – Change Your Mindset to Transform Your Teaching:

Showing up in the classroom as the best version of yourself each day requires serious mental fortitude. This book will empower you to develop the resilient, flexible, positive mindset you need to:

Change your perception of setbacks by replacing judgment with curiosity
Observe your thoughts and select the ones that create results you want
Honor your intuition, mind-body connection, and emotions for the insights they provide
Let go of bias, unrealistic expectations, standards, and comparisons
Practice radical acceptance to stay motivated even when you don’t see results
Realize a sense of accomplishment in a job that’s truly never done

In addition, as a closure to my own self-care workshops, I have always used these “motivating beliefs” illustrated in her first book, Fewer Things Better:

  • I am worthy of better and change is possible for me right now.
  • I set my own expectations in life and in teaching.
  • I know what is important and allocate time accordingly.
  • I ensure my needs are met to prevent overwhelm and exhaustion.

Now for the “Newer” Curriculum

If we could “wave a magic wand” and instantly transform the climate and culture in the schools, what would we do? During my PA Department of Education SAS Institute presentation for admins in December 2025, we explored a wide variety of key concepts, concentrated on more “teacher asks of administration” that are backed by multiple sources:

  • Give teachers the respect that they deserve.
  • Show that you value their time.
  • Streamline communications. Hold fewer or shorter team or faculty meetings (substitute some with emails?).
  • Set and adhere to healthy boundaries for work/life balance.
  • Prove that you trust them.
  • Protect classroom time by minimizing interruptions.
  • Reduce unnecessary accountability documentation.
  • Never underestimate your staff. Professionalize your language when discussing your staff with parents and other stakeholders.
  • Acknowledge their struggles and show that you appreciate the work they are doing.
  • Involve teachers in the creation of targeted professional development activities that are the most meaningful for them.
  • Ask teachers about what specific help they need to imporve classroom management.
  • Ask teachers what mental health or other supports they need to cope with their own distress.
  • Reframe your role as school leader. Shift from a school principal’s current focus on operations and compliance to a fuller picture of instructional leadership: a more “hands-on” approach to supports for student success, social-emotional learning, and a deeper emphasis on school culture, wellness, and community engagement.

Over the next 6-12 months, I plan to post a handful of new research and resources for your perusal. Here is a sneak preview of several books for an advanced and closer look.

Additional References

These were updated from my last conference handout for Self-Care Cookbook 2.0. Enjoy!

PKF

© 2026 Paul K. Fox

Those Tricky Interview Questions

paulkfoxLeave a comment

Much has already been written and posted here for prospective music educators to market their professionalism, learn personal branding, networking, and prepare to “ace” those interviews. If you have not read them previously, take a few moments to acquaint yourself with my past articles that explore these subjects in greater detail. Click on the above link, “Becoming a Music Educator.” – Paul K. Fox

On your way to your first music teacher employment screening? “Break a leg,” as they say, but watch out for several possibly stressful moments during the interrogations.

Whether you are dealing with an inexperienced interviewer or a pro who’s deliberately trying to catch you off guard to see how you handle yourself, awkward questions are sometimes asked of you that seem to come out of left field.

And, sorry, in this competitive market, it’s your job to deal with them!

ball-605592_1920Be prepared for anything, and don’t slip up on “interview potholes” – any of these “terrifying, treacherous, tricky, and troubling” inquiries or potentially hot topics like…

  • What is your greatest weakness?
  • What was your most embarrassing moment in front of the class?
  • What was your greatest professional failure.
  • Why did you leave your last employer?

The U.S. News & World Report MONEY online site offered “How to Answer the 5 Toughest Job Interview Questions” by Robin Madell (http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2014/03/18/how-to-answer-the-5-toughest-job-interview-questions), including the biggie, “Tell me about a time you failed,” often asked of applicants to any field.

Quoting career coach Christie Mims, Madell recommends to respond honestly. “Highlight a failure and then follow up with what you learned and how you changed,” she says. “Interviewers are less concerned with the failure than how you handled it. (You are human, after all.) They want to know that you are capable of thoughtful growth and can handle stress under pressure.” And, as for “What are your greatest shortcomings?” – again, be honest. Madell cites Medallia Vice President David Reese: “Many interviewers are not really looking to find out whether a candidate’s organizational skills could use improvement, or that they struggle with presenting to large groups or even leading large teams,” he says. “They’re trying to find out whether they have self-awareness, whether they are able to be critical, and most importantly, whether they’re able to tell the truth – when it’s difficult.”

looking-for-a-job-1257233_1920According to Lee E. Miller at http://www.theladders.com/career-advice/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself-interview-question, one common “open-ended” question begins with, “Tell me something about yourself.” It demonstrates how the candidates will handle themselves in an unstructured situation, show how articulate and confident they were, and “what type of impression they would make on the people with whom they came into contact on the job.” Your response should be positive and focus the interview on your strengths and accomplishments. You should not answer with a snappy, “What do you want to know?” Miller says this implies that you are unprepared for the interview and likely to be equally unprepared of the job.

Another good perusal is “5 Great Answers to Awkward Interview Questions,” by Dominique Rogers, Monster Contributing Writer (http://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/great-answers-to-awkward-interview-questions), which revisits “Tell me about yourself!” and also includes a discussion on several other “thorny” questions:
  • What’s your passion?
  • Why are you looking to leave your current job? and How do we know you’ll stay?
  • If you were a fruit or a pizza topping, what would you be?
  • How do you rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10?
  • What would you do if you were given multiple tasks to accomplish in a day—and you knew it was flat-out impossible to do them all?
  • Have you ever had to confront the situation where someone on a team wasn’t pulling their weight? If so, what did you do?

human-1211467_1280Instead of a traditional interview (like most of the above) stating opinions about yourself, you may be faced with a behavioral interview. This type of employment screening requires job candidates to relate stories about how they handled challenges related to the skills and qualifications the company requires for the position. For this, you are encouraged to read “Acing the Behavioral Interview” by Jeanne Knight at http://www.theladders.com/career-advice/acing-behavioral-interview. She goes into great detail about how to define appropriate skill sets and develop specific anecdotes to support your experiences and growth in these areas. Knight concludes, “Familiarizing yourself with the behavioral interview style, crafting and practicing your stories and doing some homework on the position you seek will ensure that you won’t be caught off guard should you encounter a behavioral interview.”

The Ladders website also offers excellent insight on how to respond diplomatically to inappropriate interview questions based on age, nationality, religion, marital/family status, etc. (see article by Lisa Vaas at http://www.theladders.com/career-advice/dont-answer-interview-question).

It is likely you will be asked about your philosophy of student discipline at least once during the screening process. Develop a proactive classroom management perspective. Do not fall into settling for “sending the bad kids to the principal’s office” as a solution to poor behavior. Preventive discipline, confidence, and control in handling your own class are absolutely critical. Again, this would be an excellent time for storytelling, giving an example about a specific disciplinary incident, something you had to solve in student teaching, subbing, or at a previous job.

questions-1151886In the unlikely event it gets asked, how would you respond to, “You say you are a musician? Are you temperamental?” Administrators want assurances and evidence that you are levelheaded, responsible, organized, reliable, and indeed NOT temperamental. Freelance singers and instrumentalists often have active performance calendars. Your principal may come out and ask if you will be available to “make the music” with your students after-school or evenings, and that your “gigs” and other non-district related activities will not interfere with school concerts, open houses, field trips, festivals, parent meetings, and other educational events for the growth and development of the total music program.

Here are a few final tips, in summary:

  • Be true to yourself. Say what you mean. (If you get the job, you may have to “eat your words!”)
  • Do not try to predict what the members on the interview panel want to hear from you.
  • Do not get carried away and volunteer too much information.
  • Avoid badmouthing previous bosses, school districts, or job assignments.
  • Be inquisitive, interested, motivated, and actively engaged in the “give and take” of the interview.
  • Never ask at the first interview what you would receive in pay and benefits.

What’s that saying? “Never let them see you sweat? At a job interview, always remain cool, calm, and collected. In advance, prepare answers and supportive anecdotes in response to all interview questions, and “go for the gold!” Good luck!

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PKF

© 2016 Paul K. Fox