Because of the material in my speeches and books, I often find myself explaining why I have such a problem with “inspiring” movies about new teachers.

These movies are unhelpful to teachers in many ways, but they can be especially damaging for beginners. That’s because, in many cases, these movies become the stories that shape how new teachers see themselves. And the subtext of those stories goes something like this:

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If I had to summarize my philosophy of the tone teachers should set on the first day of school in one sentence, it would be this:

The teacher cares about you, and the teacher is in charge.

Or, if you prefer: The teacher is in charge, and the teacher cares about you.

One of the questions I often hear from teachers is some version of “how to teach in the current political environment.”

The exact nature of this concern plays out differently for different teachers, which is one reason I’m going to try not to wade into specific political debates here. Do I have opinions? I always have opinions! But if there’s one thing teachers have never had to worry about, it’s having access to enough opinions.

Helping teachers make it through the rough patches of the school year has been my focus for nearly two decades. One thing I’ve learned is that, even though teachers are supposed to be willing to “anything for the kids,” people’s best moods are limited resources. Start the day with an emotional rubber band already stretched to its breaking point, and you’re likely to snap by three o’clock. Which leads to you beat yourself up because, even “for the kids,” you couldn’t rise to the challenge. Which doesn’t help with the rubber band problem.

That’s why it helps to think of budgeting your emotional energy the same way you might budget money. Just like money, your emotional budget can be wasted or even stolen, leaving your account overdrawn. The good news is that, just as with other limited resources, there are steps you can take to keep from spending your emotional budget too early in the day—or in the wrong places.