Burnout

I've been something of a teaching burnout the past two years. I'm not phoning it in (this semester, at least) but I know I don't have the same enthusiasm for teaching I did when I started. I fear I'm slowly turning into Mr. Hand, simply by telling that joke and having students look at me as if Fast Times at Ridgemont High was a campaign in the seventh year of the Peloponnesian War. Seriously, though, fighting burnout is tricky, mainly because if you try to fight it, you make it worse. I've come to think of it as coming back from a serious sports injury, and you realize you've made changes in how you do it to protect the injured joint/limb. Hobbling is a good way to describe how it feels sometimes. Now, this is definitely not some whine about my job---professoring is got to be one of the greatest jobs out there because of the amount of time and freedom it gives you, and there's nothing more annoying than some candy-arsed professor whining. But the problem is real---how do you get it back if you think you've lost it?

I think for me part of the solution is not trying so hard---not easing back, mind you, but not be conscious of the physical act of the teaching and just do it. I've been focusing on that thought this semester and so far it's working pretty well. The publishing is going great guns, the service is really kicked up in a meaningful off campus way, it's just for the life of me I can't grade another paper. It's not that I won't, it's just that I can't think of what to say: how do you write the same comments to correct the same mistakes year in and year out? I've thought of getting a stamp (which would help with legibility issues, I think).

Anyhoo, if anyone out there has some suggestions for dealing with teaching burnout I'd really appreciate any insight you have on the matter.