Burnout, Boundaries, and Finding Your Purpose with Tiffany Fox (Ep. 517)

Full episode transcript below.

Resources and Links

• • Rooted and Refreshed: A 90-Day Devotional for Teachers
  • Find Tiffany on Instagram and TPT
  • Self-Care for the Art Teacher
  • 10 Supportive Ways an Art Teacher Can Cope with Burnout

Transcript

Tim: Welcome to Art Ed Radio, the podcast for art teachers. This show is produced by the Art of Education and I’m your host, Tim Bogatz.

Today we have a conversation that I think is going to be worthwhile and I think is going to hit close to home for a lot of our teachers. My guest is Tiffany Fox, better known to many of you as Mrs. T Fox Resources on Instagram and on Teachers Pay Teachers. Very, very excited to talk to her. We met at the NAEA convention a couple of months ago and really had a great connection. I’m really excited to have her on the podcast and have this discussion. Tiffany got into teaching a little later in her career. She spent over a decade teaching everything from beginning art all the way to AP Studio Art. And she built a huge following by sharing her students’ work online, sharing her resources, and doing all sorts of things to help other art teachers.

In our conversation today, we’re going to talk about what it actually feels like to be an art teacher right now. We know things are difficult, but we also know that our work is meaningful, and so we need to figure out how we can balance those two things. We’ll get into why so many teachers are burnt out, but also what we do that makes the art room so unique and so special compared to all the other classrooms in the school. I have a lot that I want to ask Tiffany about, including her new book. It’s called Rooted and Refreshed. It’s a 90-day devotional made just for teachers. It came out late last year, and everyone I’ve talked to who has read it says it has really resonated with them.

I’m excited to hear more about that as well. So a lot to get into. As I said, I’m very excited for the conversation. Let me bring on Tiffany now.

Okay, Tiffany Fox is joining me now. Tiffany, how are you?

Tiffany: I am fabulous. Thank you very much for having me.

Tim: Thank you for coming on. I’m really, really excited to talk to you. A lot of people know you from your Instagram account and everything that you do online, but I would love to know just kind of your whole story. Can you give us an introduction — who you are, how you got into teaching, and all of the things that you’re doing now?

Tiffany: Okay, I will try to make it as condensed as possible because it’s a bit of a story. I didn’t come into the classroom until I was 41. My original degree is from Virginia Tech in political science. So, since I couldn’t be president, I decided — when I was about 33 — that I’d always wanted to be an art teacher. I said to my husband, “I think I want to go back to school,” and, God bless him, he was so supportive. We had a nine-year-old daughter and he said, “Of course, go.” I will fast forward — it took 10 years to get the degree. I stepped into the classroom for the first time and it was the most beautiful experience I can even describe. It was just amazing. I knew I was home. I knew I was where I was supposed to be. I was there for 13 years, north of Charlotte, North Carolina, at a suburban high school with a large population and large class sizes. I taught everything from beginning art all the way to AP Studio Art. I was blessed with great admin, great coworkers, and amazing students. It was just a really wonderful experience. And then COVID came along and harshed my mellow, Tim.

Not that COVID was the reason I left the classroom, but what happened was that in 2018, I discovered Teachers Pay Teachers. This was prior to COVID, but when COVID hit, I discovered that my goal — my drug of choice, as I tell people — is helping people. Whether it’s my students or the fabulous educators I help now, I also do professional development. And I did a little stint as a competition bikini designer. Yeah, it’s a story, Tim. You might need more than one episode. But I just like to help people and I like to see people succeed. I just thrive on watching people succeed. So in 2022, I started getting the call to write the book and I didn’t answer it at first. I thought, you know what, I think somebody else needs to do that. It took about six months for me to settle into it. My gosh, it’s just such a gift. It’s a gift to work with students, it’s a gift to work with teachers. When I was at the conference in Chicago and all those people were in that room — what a gift just to know that each one of them has at least 120 kids in their care, you know? When you think about the representation of the students in that room — I was overwhelmed knowing that they care for and love their students like I did. It all stems from me just wanting the best for them and for their students.

Tim: I really appreciate the idea of helping teachers, of sharing things, of getting your ideas out there. I’d love for you to talk about how that started. You said you got on Instagram in 2012. Can you talk about how that grew? Talk about the other things you’re doing and sharing online. And I guess my big question is: when you started sharing your resources and your ideas, when did you start seeing that what you were putting out there was really resonating with people?

Tiffany: Oh my gosh, this is the best part. It all started with this vector painting lesson — it’s just a simple value study in a monochromatic color. That was the one that people really loved. I knew nothing about Instagram. My high school students actually set it up for me because they said, “Fox, you’ve got to be on Instagram.” And I’m like, “What is Instagram?” So they set it up. That first original photo from Spirit Week of the three girls who set it up is actually still on my Instagram. You’d have to go way back, but I love it. I can still see them.

So I just started, and if students did something cool, I would put it up. I’m big about displaying their work, so I always had work in progress and finished pieces up in my room, with each class represented on a wall. I would go take a picture and post it. Teachers started following and reaching out, and then of course we got to Mrs. T Fox Resources, which — okay, can I just say something about that name? It’s a terrible title for my shop. I literally, before first block, was setting up my TPT account. It said “Title of your store.” I didn’t know anything about TPT. I didn’t know anything about SEO. I didn’t know how people find you. So what do I call it? Mrs. T Fox Resources. Does that say “art” to you? No, it doesn’t. People have these cool store names like “Artful Ideas” — I love it — and “The Art of This and That.” I’m like, why didn’t I pick something like that? But literally the tardy bell rang and I was like, okay, Mrs. T Fox Resources. I’ve been fighting that battle ever since.

So people would see the work I posted and say, “Where do I get it?” I would have to get it in the shop first, so I was getting up at four o’clock in the morning. At the same time, I was sewing competition bikinis. So I was sewing, rhinestoning, making lessons, and trying to teach, all at once. I have a heart for students with special needs — I don’t think they always get included. So all of my resources are geared for success across the board, not just for your creative kids. I love creative kids, they’re wonderful, but everybody needs a win. Someone said to me one time, “Do you sleep?” I said, “Very little,” because people were constantly coming to me and specifically asking, “I need to know how to teach drawing,” or “I need to know how to use colored pencil.” So I started the Facebook page and the Instagram, and then I started a YouTube channel because someone suggested it.

And do you know what I’m tired of, Tim? I’m tired of all these people getting on all these platforms and telling people they’re going to make six figures on YouTube in 45 days. Okay, if you’re out there doing that — stop, because it’s not the truth. I operate from this central axis of helping people, and everything revolves around that. I always ask myself: Is this helping people? Is this making someone’s life easier? Is this making someone’s day in the classroom easier? That’s the catalyst that moves the resources forward.

Tim: Along the same vein, you have a book out. I really want you to talk about that. Can you tell us more about the book — what inspired you to write it? I know people always have a thought in the back of their mind, like “Maybe I’ll write a book someday.” How long did it take you to put it together and publish it? And what kind of feedback have you gotten since it’s been published?

Tiffany: Sorry, I know that’s a lot of questions.

There is a reason that everybody is in their room. I used to tell my kids this all the time. I used to say, “Guys, there are no mistakes. If you think you got dumped in here —” On day one, I’d say, “Okay, who got dumped? Give me a hand if you got dumped.” You always get the kids who raise their hands and say, “I was dumped, I don’t want to be here.” And I’d say, “All of you with a hand up — you are going to be my biggest challenge and my biggest reward. I’m going to show you not only what you can do, but you’re going to be so amazing you won’t be able to stand yourself when you get out of here.” I said, “We’re going to figure out along the way — 18 weeks — why you made a pit stop in my room.” And sometimes the purpose was for them, and sometimes the purpose was for me. Some of my most challenging students offered me something I could carry into the next season of my life.

So in 2022, I was in a bit of a wilderness season, not knowing what was next after school had reopened. What I got to do with the book was go back to the classroom in my memory — because the book is a compilation. It’s a 90-day devotional made up of 90 stories from my classroom. Each day is about three pages with a literal flashback story. It took a year and a half to write. Then I found an editor who read it and said, “This is cute, but it’s not a devotional.” So I wrote it again — another year and a half. In November of 2025, we published it. It’s on Amazon: Rooted and Refreshed: A 90-Day Devotional for Teachers.

I had a great launch team of about 120 educators who helped me launch it. They were able to read it as I wrote and edited, so I got solid feedback throughout. It was just a wonderful experience. And the irony is that so many people who are not educators have read it. They say things like, “I had no idea what my son’s or daughter’s teachers are dealing with,” or “My wife’s a teacher — I never knew what she was going through.” That really wasn’t my original intent. My intent was to help educators, to support and renew their calling. But I had one teacher comment on Facebook that the book is “green pastures and cool waters for every day.” I just want people to know they’re not alone.

I was always focused on the lens — am I seeing this through my own anger, tiredness, frustration? Why am I reacting this way, and what impact does that have not just on the student in front of me, but on everyone in the room? You think you’re talking to one person, but you’re really talking to 30 or 40. How you make people feel seen, heard, and valued — when you do that, you’re showing everyone how to do that.

Because I think at the end of the day, sometimes we default to asking, “Why isn’t anyone learning how to shade?” I was once doing a shading workshop with some teachers and someone said, “I give the directions and they come right back up to me saying they don’t have a pencil.” And I said, offhandedly, “You know, sometimes they just want to talk to you.” That lady said, “Oh my gosh, I needed to hear that.” The “I don’t have a pencil” — when really there are 40 pencils at the bottom of their backpack — sometimes they just need some interaction. We don’t know what they came from. We don’t know what they left behind at home. Maybe they just need someone to talk to.

I really think we need to get back to basics as far as why we’re there. We’re there because we’re called. Nobody’s in this job to get rich. I was in North Carolina, Tim. I made $47,000 after 13 years in the classroom. That’s not why we do this. We do this because we love kids.

Tim: Absolutely. I really liked what you said about non-teachers reading the book and gaining a new understanding of what we’re going through. I wanted to dive into that a little more and ask you: what is unique about the emotional experience of being an art teacher — something that people who aren’t living it don’t understand about what we do?

Tiffany: I really tried hard to push the reset button on some assumptions left over from high school, because art teachers get trampled on and overextended. Everybody thinks our supplies belong to the entire school. Everybody thinks we’re supposed to paint every set for every theater production, make every poster for every teacher event, design every end-of-year teacher gift, design the Christmas card — I could go on and on. There’s this sort of demoralization of what we do, and people say things like, “So-and-so has to make up a test — let’s just pull them from art.”

But I think — and this is my humble opinion — our rooms are a safe place. They are a safe, beautiful space. I watched students go through some of the most heart-wrenching, difficult experiences — personally, with family, with friends — and to give them a place where they can rest and know that they are loved, accepted, championed, and valued — what a privilege.

Because you’re not getting that in calculus, Tim. Nobody wants to go sit in calculus. There are no colors on the walls. But the art room — I think that’s our unique opportunity. That’s our blessing. And I know people are listening and thinking, “Yes, I do create that in my room.” Whatever it is that brings that sense of safety — foster it, lean into it, and know that because of you, somebody made it to the end of the day. Maybe they made it to the end of the week. Maybe they made it to the end of the year.

I had a gentleman come up to me at the very last art show I did in 2022 — this is also in the book. I didn’t know who he was, but in 2009, the first year I taught, his daughter had been in my class. He had moved her from Ohio after a divorce in the middle of the year. She came in January. He did not think she was going to make it to graduation. He was very worried about her. Not only did she make it, but he said her load was lightened, her mood was different, her attitude was completely different while she was in my class. I wish I could tell you I remember the moment clearly — I don’t, because it wasn’t about me. It was all about her.

But this man made a point to come to that art show to tell me before I left — I had shared it on social media, “last art show, heading to South Carolina, goodbye” — and he came and told me that. So on your most discouraged day, just know that somebody on the other side of what you do is receiving a blessing. You may never know, or someone may show up 13 years later to tell you — but it’s there.

Tim: Yeah, I love that. I think that’s a message that a lot of people need to hear, because teaching is so hard right now. It’s absolutely exhausting. From your perspective, why do you think so many teachers feel burnt out or just exhausted right now?

Tiffany: I think it’s many things. I think parents are often dismissive of what teachers deal with. Now with social media, I’ve seen parents roast teachers on Facebook — I’ve seen it happen to me personally. I think we have dehumanized the profession as a society. What we need to get back to is understanding that without a teacher, you don’t have any career. You don’t have anything. You don’t have society. Without teachers, you don’t have the basics of any profession.

Our most valued resource is our children, placed in the care of our most valued profession — teachers. And as a society, we are not rallying around these people and protecting them and lifting them up. They are beaten down by administrative demands — data, testing, and so on. There’s pressure from parents: “If my student doesn’t do well, it’s your fault.” And you have young children, a spouse, possibly a second job if you’re in the South, elderly parents — all of these demands in your personal life — and yet you’re expected to martyr yourself on the altar of this profession. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

All of that aside, what I wanted to do with the book is to remind people: it’s okay to say no. I said no a lot when I was in the classroom, because had I not, my relationship with my husband would have suffered, my relationship with my daughter would have suffered, and my sanity — let’s talk about sanity. Even if you don’t have a spouse or kids or aging parents, you still have your sanity to protect and your livelihood. And a lot of these people can’t even afford to live on their own because the pay isn’t there. We don’t support them.

And here’s the other piece that makes it really difficult: social media. There’s this comparison that happens. I was just talking to a teacher who had read the book — I have an entry about not going to social media for your classroom inspiration — because what you’re seeing is a highlight reel. You’re seeing the very best of what’s coming out of all of these classrooms. It’s not real. And I have an Instagram, people — but when I do my reels, I try to keep them as real as possible. I’m exhausted, and I’m not even in the classroom anymore.

Teachers need to take care of themselves. If nobody else is going to put the boundaries up, you put the boundaries up. You say, “I will not do this. I will rest. I will take a walk. I will take a moment for myself.” Focus on you and those beautiful people in your classroom.

Tim: What are some small, realistic ways that teachers can think about taking care of themselves and maybe reconnecting with their purpose and the reason they came into the classroom in the first place?

Tiffany: Okay, the first thing you need to do — shameless plug — read my book. A lot of what’s in there is about teacher self-care. But in all seriousness, some super basic things: keep a jar of peanut butter in your desk. I’m serious. It’s good, quick protein. Keep some plastic spoons and if you need a boost between classes, take a spoonful. It’s got a little sugar and a little protein, and it will help.

And make sure you say no. When they call you and ask you to decorate the Chick-fil-A bucket for some spirit challenge, it’s okay to say no. Put the boundaries in your planner. If your school day ends at three and you don’t leave until four, lock your classroom door. Don’t let 19 kids wander in because they don’t have anywhere else to go. You’re not a bad person if you need an hour to yourself after school before you get in the car to go home and face whatever challenges are waiting there.

Whatever it is that you do to relax or decompress — whether that’s reading, meditating, or just sitting in the quiet — do it. Don’t grade papers, don’t answer emails. Just reset.

Tim: I think that’s really important. My last question for you — I always love to have guests offer words of wisdom before we close. What do you think teachers need to hear right now? What’s the message they need as we’re starting to look toward the end of the school year?

Tiffany: I’ll try to say this without crying. Close your eyes and picture your students — your most challenging ones, your most generous ones, all of them — and see them all as a gift, because they are. Ask yourself: in what ways has my life been enriched by this school year?

I always did this thing with my kids called a Family Album. We took a hardback book, each student got two pages, and I had a little series of questions for them to answer and illustrate however they wanted — mixed media style. I put all the pages back in the book and they all signed the inside cover. I still have them. I still flip through them sometimes.

Before your students leave you, make sure they know: you were here for a reason. We’ve been together for a reason. Your students are purposed for a reason — they’ve been in that room with you all year. It may have been grueling. It may have been the most difficult year you’ve ever had. But good is going to come from it. It’s a privilege to be a part of their lives. So, no matter how hard it’s been, start to reflect on the good that came — or the good that’s still coming. It’s coming.

Tim: Yeah, I love that. I think that’s a really, really good way to look at things. If we can all step back and take a minute to appreciate those opportunities and appreciate — like you said — all of the students around us and the fact that we get to interact with them, that’s really valuable.

Tiffany: It is. They’re the reason we do what we do. And now my teachers are the reason I do what I do.

Tim: It’s a really powerful and important message that we all need to sit with. Tiffany, thank you so much for taking the time to talk about all of these things, for sharing about your book, and for sharing your story with us. I really appreciate it.

All right, that will do it for us. Thank you so much to Tiffany for coming on. For everybody listening, I hope you’re walking away from this one feeling a little bit better and a little more seen. What she had to say about the art room being a safe place — about students showing up not just because of the work but because of you and what you do as a teacher — that’s something worth reflecting on and worth sitting with. It’s easy to lose sight of that when all the demands pile up and when the school year feels a little longer than it should. I hope what Tiffany shared brings everything back into focus.

If you want to explore more about Tiffany and what she’s doing, you can find her at Mrs. T Fox Resources. We will link to everything she mentioned, including her book, in the show notes.

Thank you all for listening, and if today’s conversation resonated with you, please pass it along to another art teacher who might need to hear it. They’ll appreciate it, and we will too.

Art Ed Radio is produced by the Art of Education University. Thank you for joining us. If you know someone who might benefit from this episode, we would love for you to share it with them. We also appreciate all of the ratings and reviews our listeners leave, so if you have a moment to give us a five-star rating or leave a review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen, we would love to see it. We appreciate all of our listeners, and we will talk to you again next week.