The key to beating burnout: minding what matters
The Cocoon: June 2025
Hi there! It’s so good to see you. This is my first regular monthly edition of The Cocoon since April. (If you missed my May Teacher Appreciation Week tributes you can find them here.) As a result, you’ll find even more recommendations than usual this month for books, field trips, and other resources to inspire transformation.
If you appreciate my work, find it useful, or have followed up on any of these recs, I’d be so grateful for your support with a like, comment, share, or paid subscription!
I was recently invited to give the keynote at a NYC public high school’s two-day professional learning retreat. Because I believe no one should speak nonstop for 90 minutes – ever! – my keynote was less of a presentation and more of a workshop. I facilitated activities for attendees to reclaim why they do this work in the first place, identify what’s getting in the way of fulfilling that purpose, and determine what needs to change for them to do so. In other words, if your purpose as an educator is what matters to you, what can you do to make sure that’s what’s front and center in your work and life?
This last piece is what’s often missing from discussions about purpose and burnout. Your purpose isn’t just an affirmation to write on a post-it and stick somewhere. It’s the criteria for decision-making.
In my work as a coach and a consultant, I’ve supported countless educators in figuring out how to navigate some of their most daunting professional challenges:
How do I know if I want to stay a classroom teacher or become an administrator?
What if I can’t stand teaching test prep but that’s basically my whole job?
How do I get my principal to understand that PD at our school is a pointless waste of time?
Should I stay at my school or find a new one?
How do I make my mornings less hectic so I’m not already in a bad mood before 1st period starts?
I have yet to hear a dilemma that doesn’t start with an exploration of purpose. What matters most to you? What answer/solution/choice will bring you more closely into alignment with that purpose? This is where I always begin in my coaching sessions.
Summer is a great time to do this reflective work because stepping back from the day-to-day demands of teaching and leading can mean more time and energy for thinking about what you really want. To support that process, I’m offering a free Summer Cocoon Coaching session (a $200 value) for paid subscribers to The Cocoon.
What happens in a Summer Cocoon Coaching session? It’s up to you, but here are some possibilities:
Reconnecting to why you became an educator in the first place
How to give a tried-and-true instructional unit a makeover that amps up the excitement for both you and your students
Ways to set professional boundaries that safeguard what matters most to you
How to navigate interpersonal challenges with supervisors, colleagues, and other team members
What you can do over the course of the next school year to create new professional opportunities for the life you want in the future
Any other potentially transformative shift you've been thinking about!
If you’re already a paid subscriber, you’ll find the scheduling link below the paywall at the very bottom of this email to set up your session between July 1 and August 31. If you’re a free subscriber, you’ll find a link to upgrade so you can take advantage of this opportunity, which is worth 4 times the cost of the subscription itself!
Your turn:
If you have 5 minutes: Share a comment about something that resonates with you. First draft thoughts are welcome!
If you have 10 minutes: Take a gander at my other Substack RSBB. It’s where I share my most personal writing.
If you have 30 minutes: My co-author Meredith Matson and I share many prompts and exercises to support reflection in our book including these free printable downloads. And here are two previous issues of The Cocoon where you can find support for this process:
Getting Schooled
What I’ve been seeing and thinking about in my recent work with educators
I visited a school in western Massachusetts where horticulture and ceramics students collaborated on a plant sale. I bought these two.
I also visited a school in Rhode Island that decorates its hallways with photos of students’ customized graduation caps. This was my favorite.
And I visited a school in Boston where students’ “trash fashion” projects fill the hallways display cases.
Field Tripping
What I’ve been doing and experiencing on my weekly field trips (2 hours usually/mostly alone with my lifelong learner hat on)
I wandered around McNally Jackson at Rockefeller Center and bought Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. I also loved his recent interviews on The Interview and We Can Do Hard Things.
I visited Mexican Modernism, this year’s orchid show at the New York Botanical Garden.
I took a beach day while reading Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey, founder of the Nap Ministry.
I saw and loved and was completely mesmerized by Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. There are moments and lines in this film that I can’t stop thinking about, like the look on Michael B. Jordan’s face the first time he hears Miles Caton singing Travelin’ in the car. And then I devoured(!) the commentary on Vibe Check, Critics at Large, and Popcast.
I visited the Perez Art Museum and sat in a swing overlooking Biscayne Bay.
I saw the documentary Secret Mall Apartment at O Cinema. It’s about a group of Providence artists who lived undetected in an apartment inside a shopping mall for four years behind a wall they built by carrying 2.5 tons of cinder blocks up a parking garage staircase.
Want to try a field trip of your own but not sure how to get started? Schedule time on my calendar and let’s brainstorm together.
Reading Recs
What I’ve been reading and ruminating about
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg – I’ve reread this book countless times over the past 40 years and it never ever ever gets old. I think about it every time I visit the Met.
Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native American Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing – The best and most important book I’ve read on why our education system is the way it is and what we need to do to fix it.
Dear Writer: Pep Talks and Practical Advice for the Creative Life by Maggie Smith – A lovely gift for a writer or anyone in need of a creative boost.
Miracles and Wonder: The Historical Mystery of Jesus by Elaine Pagels – I grew up in a family that was both religious and progressive (i.e. my siblings and I had to go to church every Sunday until we were 16 when we could decide for ourselves and were taught not to use male pronouns to refer to god). I am consequently fascinated by biblical history, and this book scratched that itch.
And as part of my ongoing, very up-and-down quest to unlearn, deprogram, and divest from diet culture:
Unshrinking: How to Fight Fatphobia by Kate Manne
A Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting by Casey Johnston
Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture by Virginia Sole-Smith – I recently posted about how much I loved this book. You can read a free sample of Chapter 1 here.
Plus:
The Supreme Court recently heard arguments on provisions that allow parents to opt their children out of school storytime featuring books including LGBTQIA+ characters. You can read or hear the New York Times coverage, as well as commentary about the case on All of the Above, the ed news and analysis podcast (and YouTube channel) co-hosted by my friend, colleague, and former coach Jeffrey Garrett.
Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s “This Is the Holocaust Story I Said I Wouldn’t Write” (read or listen) is so masterful that I listened to it twice, as I did with Brodesser-Akner’s classic Val Kilmer story (read or listen).
I loved this timely piece about censorship by A Wrinkle in Time author Madeline L’Engle’s granddaughter.
As I posted recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about quitting, so it was auspicious to see this best-of episode in my feed.
Let’s partner!
I help educators break through their blocks by finding the intersection of effectiveness and sustainability.
I believe educators need to stay connected to their passion and purpose to provide all students with joyful, enchanting, empowering learning experiences–without burning out.
I have more than 2 decades of experience as an educator with deep expertise in leadership and instructional coaching across grade bands and content areas, learner-centered professional development design and facilitation, and teacher team development.
Interested in learning more?
“This book could not have come at a better time.”
Carolyn Yaffe, Executive Director, Valley Charter Schools
One more thing about cocoons
My friend Emily Hyland is co-leading a poetry and yoga retreat in the Catskills this fall. I’ve talked about Emily here before; she’s the author of the recent collection Divorced Business Partners, which I loved. I know taking a week off in early fall is difficult to impossible for school-based folx, but if you have the capacity, this is a great opportunity for transformation.