Education Week - November 30, 2022 - 5

shifted in the past seven months or so, the
moderator said. These days, the unpaid team
of moderators is deleting near-daily posts
calling teachers " child molesters " or " groomers " -pejoratives
weaponized by some conservative
pundits and politicians during debates
about whether classroom discussions and materials
related to sexuality and LGBTQ identity
should be allowed in schools.
" That stuff bleeds into the sub, and then we
have to fight that, " the moderator said.
The subreddit can be a place for support
Reddit users have said the forum has helped
them get through the hardest schooldays.
Christine Greenhow, a professor in educational
psychology and educational technology
at Michigan State University, reviewed some
of the subreddit posts at Education Week's request
and said she noticed a feeling of solidarity
and support among posters.
While many of the posts on the subreddit are
asking for tips from other teachers, some users
wrote that they didn't necessarily want any advice-they
mainly wanted to vent, Greenhow
said.
" These are places to give voice to your anxiety
and for other people to say, 'I understand.
Let me tell you how it's played out in my school
or my classroom. You're not alone,' " she said.
" This seemed to be a place where I could go and
talk about what's going on and get other people's
thoughts. That can be very comforting-it can be
a source of solidarity. "
And when teachers have a greater feeling
of solidarity, they're at less risk for leaving
the profession, Greenhow said. Surveys have
indicated that a sizable number of teachers
say they plan to quit in the next year or so, although
it remains to be seen how many actually
will.
One high school career and technical
teacher in Texas, who requested anonymity
for fear of his name being linked to his Reddit
account, said the anonymity of the forum has
allowed him a safe space to vent among likeminded
people, which has helped him handle
the stresses of teaching.
" It's been my catharsis, " he said. " Most people
just don't get it. This profession is something you
don't really understand unless you're really in it.
... The only way you can get it out is with people
who are in the same boat as you. "
He quipped: " Therapy's expensive; internet
connection's cheap. "
School leaders and policymakers could
monitor the subreddit to take the pulse of the
teacher workforce, Stornaiuolo said: " There's
something very powerful about seeing many,
many people saying the same things. "
Still, she warned that teachers spending
too much time steeped in the negativity of
the forum could perpetuate and deepen their
frustrations.
" I think people need a space in order to be able
to share the full range of emotions, but when it's
predominately negative, that can also be reinforcing
a feeling of hopelessness, " she said. " It
is a bit of a fine line: It is through collective storysharing
that one can be inspired to action, that
something can change. It can be a catalyst, but it
can also be a spiral. "
And the tenor of the posts on the forum
don't necessarily represent teachers' full
selves, the Texas teacher said.
" You've got to read it with a grain of salt-
we're coming there for therapy, to get it out,
and some are needing to rant in the moment
because we are who we are, and we all have an
altruistic bent, " he said. " We never really flip
the switch to not being a teacher. It's on our
minds 24/7. We wake up in the middle of the
night thinking about how to be better for our
kids. ... Just [getting] it out in a safe space is an
extreme need. "
Teachers Study found 75 percent reported
having trouble sleeping at least once a
week, and 20 percent had sleep problems
at least three times a week.
In a nationally representative survey
this spring, the EdWeek Research Center
found U.S. teachers shoulder 56-hour
workweeks on average, with teachers
regularly reporting staying up to grade
student work, plan lessons, and do other
work.
But losing out on sleep can make teachers
less effective in the classroom. " Whether
you're 16 or 35 or 55, the human brain needs
a minimum amount of sleep to process the
day's events, so memory is significantly
impacted by sleep duration, " Wahlstrom
said. " So when adults are sleep deprived,
they're less able to remember things and
... tend to have greater mood swings and
greater mood vacillation. "
Teachers experiencing sleep deprivation
can be more nervous and irritable in
the classroom-and tend to pass those
negative emotions to students, reducing
their motivation to learn, according to a
2019 study of high school classes in Hong
Kong.
Being chronically sleep-deprived makes
adults more vulnerable to both infections
and chronic diseases like diabetes, which
can put schools at further risk of teacher
absenteeism.
Creating better sleep hygiene for
teachers
In addition to considering teachers' rest
needs in developing district schedules,
experts say districts should do more to help
teachers understand and improve their own
sleep habits.
For example, the California teacher study
found those exposed to more artificial light
at night were more likely to experience
shorter and more difficult sleep.
The National Education Association,
the nation's largest teachers' union,
recommends its members " [build] a
schedule that prioritizes sleep and forces
teaching work to fit into the finite time slots
you actually have. "
From remote learning for young children to playground infection risks, schooling under the pandemic is
raising a lot of questions for teachers and education leaders. This research column aims to help readers
understand what the research says-and doesn't say-about our new context for learning. If you have a
question, please send it to ssparks@educationweek.org.
Dear principals, assistant principals,
aspiring principals, and all school leaders,
The work you do is critical
to the enterprise of teaching
and learning and essential
for teachers, students, and
schools to be successful.
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EDUCATION WEEK | November 30, 2022 | www.edweek.org | 5
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Education Week - November 30, 2022

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