How do I keep teaching when I have no energy left to give?

You can make almost any subject come alive for kids, and that is a gift few teachers have. But that spark comes from somewhere. It comes from you, every single day, and right now the well is running dry. That is not weakness. It is the simple math of pouring out more than you take in. The energy your students feel is not free. It is drawn from a limited store, and a store that is never refilled eventually empties, no matter how gifted you are. Guarding your own supply is not selfish. It is the only way the gift survives long enough to keep giving. A burned-out teacher helps no one. So begin protecting the source. Pick one real thing that refills you, however small, and put it back into your week as if it were a lesson you could not cancel. And let one class this week be quieter, steadier, less of a performance. You do not have to be a spark every hour to be a good teacher. You have to last. Tend yourself so you can keep tending them.