MISSOULA - June marks the end of the year for educators, and a summer of recouping before they do it all over again in the fall.
Brightways Learning is an organization that dedicates time to helping teachers fight burnout and find resiliency in their jobs. Each year they host a two-day conference in June to give educators the tools to better cope with their careers.
Earlier this week, educators from across Montana and Alaska gathered at the DoubleTree in Missoula to attend the Educator's Confluence which consists of several break-out spaces and presentations from facilitators, explaining ways to better understand themselves and their students.
“The whole purpose of this conference is educator resilience,” Brightways Learning executive director Jennifer Lutey says. “And we know right now it is such a difficult thing coming through the pandemic — the after effects, the learning gaps, everything has just been a lot of pressure on educators. And this is a chance to refresh, to find our joy, to learn strategies and skills for our own resilience.”
Lutey says they choose the end of the year to host the confluence because they want to keep the passion for teaching alive over the summer.
“At the end of every school year people are tired, they're burned out,” she noted. “We want it to be a chance to reflect on that time. They're celebrating summer but also making sure that we set people up with that fire. Lighting that candle in them to start to get excited for next fall.”
Brightways Learning’s main goal is to help educators remain in their professions for however long they'd like.
“They should be able to do it for as long as they want to do it, not for as long as they can manage it,” says Beth Buchanan, who was the main presenter at the Confluence.
Buchanan was an educator for 27 years in rural Alaska. She touched every aspect of the system, from social studies teacher to basketball coach to principal.
Her eldest daughter followed in her footsteps and became a teacher, but quickly was burnt out.
“She's a young teacher, and she's passionate and she's really good at what she does,” Buchanan says. “And after just a couple of years — her first year was the COVID year — she was ready to walk away, and I was just like, ‘Gosh, don't do that. Like don't. This is what you were born to do’.”
Her daughter’s experience was a big inspiration for Buchanan to get involved with Brightways Learning and write the book “Love Your Job Longer.”
“It's a tough profession to be in right now, but it's important, and it's necessary. And I think that we, really, as a society need to value our teachers because I think that the future of our nation, quite honestly, depends on the health of our teachers,” she says.
Buchanan was just one of the list of presenters over the two-day conference. There were also past educators, therapists and social workers who spoke to participants.
The therapy professionals were able to explain the neuroscience around teaching, and how to rewire thinking habits to better cope with stress and deregulation.
Participants are able to use the knowledge to not only support themselves but support their students as well.
“I would say that my favorite part about the conferences is always that there is a different takeaway for me that impacts either my personal viewpoint on teaching or my classroom practices or the way that I interact with my students,” Elizabeth Smith, who is a Montana school counselor and art teacher.
Smith has been teaching for seven years and has attended the Educator's Confluence for the past three years in a row. She loves to teach her students breathing exercises to regulate their emotions and believes the need for these techniques has greatly increased post-COVID-19.
“It engages them in the process of like, beyond the curriculum,” she says. “How am I supposed to use the school experience? Even if there are days that are difficult for me?”
Like many other teachers, Smith has a passion for making a difference through education. She says she hopes to be the person she needed when she was younger. And other educators share her sentiment.
“At first it was about helping them with their homework and this and that. And, oh, I care about their schoolwork, and I care about their grades, but I care about their well-being more now,” says Dante Huffine who is a paraeducator from Alaska.
Through stress and daily grinds, the passion for education can be lost for some teachers, so Brightways Learning works to remind them of that passion.
“Especially in education, it can be difficult to be joyful,” David Pavish, a facilitator for the confluence, says. “And with all the challenges, especially since COVID, you can forget your passion because of how much pressure and added things that are difficult. So here they come and you see them lighten their load and get excited about new ways they can remember why they started teaching.”
The two-day conference costs $275, but Brightways Learning offers scholarships with the help of their sponsor Missoula Electric Cooperative that can help teachers with the cost. They also offer a 35% discount to Missoula County Public Schools educators.
“We want to make it accessible,” Lutey says. “A lot of educators have to pay for their own training. So we do all we can as a nonprofit to make that attainable for them and not to be yet another burden when they are already tired and are ready to start their summer.”
To learn more about Brightways Learning, visit https://www.brightwayslearning.org/ or call them at 406-542-3334.
