What's happening when you're sharp at work and foggy at home.
By Kim Lester
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Isn't this strange teachers…..You're at school and you remember everything. The schedule change that happened mid-morning. Which student still needs to finish the midyear test. Who's getting picked up differently today. The parent email you still need to answer. The copies you need to make for the entire team. The meeting to plan for next month's program after school. The form that was due yesterday but is still on your To Do Stack on your desk. The thing you promised a student you'd check before they left.
Your mind is holding it all…. Every single thing.
But when you get home and walk into your kitchen, you just stand there. You feel lost and nothing is coming to your mind when you call for information. Why did I come in here? What do I need? What am I looking for in here?
Or you open your phone to do something and forget what you were about to do.
You put something down and can't remember where you put it five minutes later.
Someone tells you something and you have to ask them to repeat it.
Then you start thinking to yourself… something's wrong with me.
You're becoming forgetful. Maybe you're not sleeping well enough or you need to exercise more or you're getting older.
You're not imagining it. That feeling is real. But there's actually a reason this happens to you.
No teachers….It's not about your memory. It's about what your memory has been carrying all day.
Teaching uses something called working memory. Your working memory is the limited amount of information your mind can temporarily hold and work with at one time. Think of it like the desktop on your computer. You can only have so many tabs open before everything slows down.
And then there's also cognitive overload. Teachers, cognitive overload happens when the amount of information you're trying to process becomes greater than your mental capacity to process it all effectively.
Now think about what your brain does all day at school. You're not just teaching the lesson in front of you. At the same time, you're watching the room, noticing who understands and who doesn't, remembering who needs help, adjusting what you're saying based on what you're seeing, responding to interruptions, watching the clock, and thinking ahead to what comes next.
You're holding student information in your head. You're managing behavior. You're answering questions. You're making decisions. And somewhere in there, you're trying to remember that one thing you absolutely cannot forget before the end of the day.
Your mind has been holding, sorting, retrieving, shifting, and responding for hours. By the time you leave that classroom, you've already used up a massive amount of your working memory capacity.
So when you walk into your kitchen and suddenly can't remember why you're there, that moment doesn't mean something's wrong with you. It's evidence that your mind has been carrying a lot.
And here's what happens when you don't understand that. You respond by trying to make your mind carry even more.
I'll remember it. I don't need to write that down. Let me just keep this in my head. I should be able to do this.
And you spend your evening frustrated with yourself for forgetting simple things when really your mind is just full. There's no more room. It's not a personal failing. It's a cognitive reality.
Notice what's happening. Notice when your mind is having a harder time holding onto the little things. Notice the moment you can't remember why you walked into a room. Notice the conversation you have to ask someone to repeat.
Name what may be happening. I have been processing information all day. My working memory has been carrying a lot. I may be cognitively overloaded right now. Teachers, that's not weakness. That's reality. The reality of being a teacher.
Once you name it, you can actually do something about it. Supporting yourself when you're cognitively overloaded isn't about figuring out how to remember more. It's about recognizing when you're already carrying enough and then using external systems to hold what your mind doesn't need to hold.
Teachers, please… Write it down.
Set the reminder.
Make the list.
Put the thing where you'll see it.
Use routines for things you don't need to decide over and over.
Create systems that don't require your mind to be the storage device.
Guys, your phone has a notes app for a reason. Your calendar can hold what you don't need to remember. A checklist can do the remembering so your mind doesn't have to.
And know this…..This isn't admitting defeat. This is supporting yourself in reality.
Your mind is brilliant at what it does at school.
Of course it's tired by the time you get home.
Of course you can't remember why you walked into the kitchen.
Of course you need external systems to hold the small stuff.
That's not failure. That's wisdom.
Give yourself the same care you give everyone else.
— Kim 🩷🌿
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If this resonated with you, there's a podcast created to support you and what you are experiencing at school. It is called Teaching Without Losing Yourself. TWLY explores what it actually takes to build systems that support your mind instead of asking it to hold everything.
Listen to our Podcasts: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2597035
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Free gift to help you get out of the school doors each day:
The Teachers Get-Out-the-Door Guide is a practical resource designed to help you build the systems and routines that help you leave school at school and actually transition home. It's the roadmap for protecting your time, your energy, and your capacity so you're not carrying everything.
Get the Guide: https://afterthebells.org/pages/get-out-the-door-guide