I’m Annoyed as Hell and Kinda Mad: Early-Career Middle & Secondary Educators’ Experiences with the Emotional Labor of Teaching

Teachers are rarely prepared for the emotional demands of their profession, yet the daily regulation of genuine emotions – known as emotional labor – is central to effective teaching. This study examines early-career middle and high school educators’ experiences with surface acting, a form of emotional labor involving the suppression of felt emotions and/or the display of unfelt ones. Using content analysis, we analyzed daily diary entries from 35 participants enrolled in an online Master of Arts in Teaching program in the southern United States. Findings reveal that suppressing negative emotions – particularly anger, frustration, and annoyance – was nearly universal and occurred most frequently in response to student behavior. Notably, almost one-third of reported incidents involved interactions with colleagues and administrators, extending emotional labor demands well beyond the classroom. While male and female participants described broadly similar experiences, female educators tended to report incidents in greater detail, suggesting potential gendered differences in emotional perception. The cumulative toll of surface acting manifested in physical exhaustion, reduced professional efficacy, and diminished motivation. These findings underscore the need for teacher preparation programs to explicitly address emotional labor and for school leaders to examine institutional structures that generate unnecessary emotional demands on educators.