Giving Compass' Take:

• In this Chalkbeat post, a special education teacher at a Chicago high school in her fifth year details the importance of self-care on the job — and why more resources are needed.

• How can we give teachers more support overall? What elements described here might align with the issues leading to recent labor unrest?

• Here are eight reasons teachers why should try online instruction.

When I started as a teacher in Chicago Public Schools, I remember hearing that half of teachers in urban school districts leave them in their first five years. When I went through rough patches I would wonder, was I going to make it?

I did make it, completing my fifth year of teaching last spring. But I can’t help but feel like something still isn’t right. I feel like this should be the time when I am starting to really develop my expertise, feel secure in my skills and abilities, and build the self-confidence that I am effective in my craft. Instead, I  feel lucky just to be surviving day to day and week to week.

I thought that by now I would be in a groove with planning and preparation. I thought that my Sundays might actually be relaxing. Instead, I find myself filled with the “Sunday scaries,” scrambling to get materials created, adjust lesson plans, and polish final drafts of IEPs. I never feel “caught up,” and can’t say I have ever known what that feels like.

Read the full article about teaching in Chicago and taking care of mental health by Dayna Heller at Chalkbeat.