Balance, Revisited

As a teacher, one of my biggest struggles is finding balance between my personal and professional life. 

I could easily work 12 hour days and still feel behind.  That, unfortunately, is the culture of education.  We are constantly asked to do so much with so little in return.  Every time I blink, it seems "one more thing" is added to our plates.  I don't hold admin at fault because they too are accountable to higher ups.  

But being a work-a-holic is not sustainable. It's not healthy. There's no medal in working twelve hour days all the time.  Fellow colleagues seem to enjoy bragging about their long hours, as if staying at work until the late evening is a badge of honor.   

News flash, it's not.

There are days when long hours are unavoidable.  They seem to exist around the beginning of the year (setting up classrooms is time consuming), parent/teacher conference time, report card time (writing comments takes a while when each one is three individualized paragraphs about specific strengths and weaknesses), carnival time, or end of the year (again, report card fun).  

In an attempt for balance, I start each day with a to do list.  I write out the items that absolutely must get accomplished that day and then leave space for additional tasks that are needed, but necessarily time sensitive.

At the end of the day, I remake the list for the next day so I can come in with a purpose.

I also keep my door shut from 7 until 8 am.  I prefer working in silence because it's when I'm most productive.  Our start time is 8:26, so I'll open my door around 8 if others want to come in to chat, problem solve, etc.  I try not to seek out others before school unless it's absolutely necessary because I know I easily get caught up in chit chat.  

I don't bring work home unless I absolutely have to and stop responding to parent messages after 5 pm.  I know all my students' parents mean well, but I don't appreciate frantic messages on class dojo after 7 pm wanting to discuss grading.  There are boundaries.  

(I have gotten middle of the night texts about family emergencies and hospital visits.  That I understand. I don't respond until I wake up, but it's good to have the heads up about things that are happening.)

My weekends are for me, family, and friends.  We've had some rather full weekends this year.  In the first seven weeks of the school year, we attended three different weddings.  B was in one of them as a groomsman.  Another weekend brought hosting out of state friends who were in town for a wedding (that we weren't invited to).  Weekends are for movie marathons, Netflix binging, lunches with friends, and dinner dates.

Without balance, individuals are at a much higher risk of burn-out.

What are you doing to promote balance this weekend?

 

 

2/2

Earlier this month, I shared about my desire to {reclaim my weekends}.

Working all the time doesn't make me a better teacher. It drains me.  It doesn't make me a good wife, a good partner, a good (pet) mom, or a good friend.  

There needs to be balance and this is something I've struggled with for most of my career. 

I'm getting better at this balance.

I left work at 4:15 on Friday.  I stayed after to quickly grade their math quizzes, prep Monday's smart notebook, and run copies for language.  More importantly, I was having dinner with a friend and couldn't arrive too early, so I kept myself busy with some small tasks.

Friday night we went to the craft store to get stuff for her daughter's upcoming baby shower. I'm making a scrapbook and wanted her input on the album.  We stopped by Target for some very exciting items (batteries, carpet cleaner, and command hanging strips) before stopping by Panera.

She just completed her second week of teaching and needed to process the events.  She's subbed for me before, she completed her student teaching, but now she's in the classroom full time.  It's an adjustment and there are lots of growing pains when starting at a new school with a new team.

We had a nice long dinner and it was nice to catch up.  The rest of Friday night included going to bed early because teaching is hard.  I did come home to these:

Saturday brought about sleeping in and then attending a friend's bridal shower.  

We met up with friends for dinner and then played games at the house afterward.  I clearly made great choices at dinner:

My hubby did very well at picking out a birthday cake:

Sunday meant more sleeping in, lunch with family to celebrate birthdays (his mom and I are two days apart), a Target run, a nap, a bubble bath, decorating for fall, and talking with my momma on the phone.

I did manage to squeeze in a little school work this weekend.  I cut out photo booth props (shout out to Teach Create Motivate and her cute {freebies}), graded one of their beginning of the year math probes, and finished grading their diagnostic Words Their Way spelling inventory.  In total, this all took maybe an hour out of my weekend.  

I'm ending Sunday night with reading, touching up my pedicure, and heading to bed before 9 pm.  I'm walking into Monday with lesson plans done (for Monday), materials prepped, and no meetings.  I'll spend before school and prep getting ready for the rest of the week.  I have happy hour plans with friends after work (because it's my birthday) and plans lined up for next weekend.

 

Reclaiming My Weekends

After school on Friday, I stayed late to hang my bulletin board. It's a two person job and I'm grateful my hubby came in to help.  We tackled a few other chores (labeling books, stapling letters to the wall, setting up folders) before calling it a day and picking up take out food.  

I took very little work home with me this weekend and it felt great.

On Friday's prep, I finished the lesson plans for the next six days.  On her prep, Ms. H finished the copies.  Team work there.

My weekend tasks for school included:

1) Purchase a new book bin from Joann's.  I had coupons and already needed to stop by the neighboring Bed, Bath, and Beyond for a wedding gift.

2) Put names on clothes pins for the data board.  This is easily (mindlessly) accomplished while watching TV.

3) Put washi tape on the bottom of markers and colored pencils to color code by table.  Annoying, but necessary for keeping order.  Full disclosure, I only did the markers this weekend. Oh well. We aren't using colored pencils today anyway.

4) Make a new seating chart.  I let them sit where they wanted the first week and now it's time to make some adjustments. I have 2 tables of 6, 1 table of 5, and 1 table of 7.  It's been bugging me for a week.  I have one student at the back of the room that I just got a medical alert for that states the student needs to be up front.  Oops.  Another student was having trouble with a neighbor and told family, who then told me what happened.  And some boys just got too cozy with their best friends and while school should be fun at times, they were having a bit too much fun.  Time for some changes.  

I do have them write to me about where they'd like to sit.  For the first time, I had them tell me a classmate who might help them learn and if they speak Spanish (I have a very new to country kiddo who is just learning English and needs translations).

That was it in terms of school work. I'm okay with this because I'm reclaiming my weekends in the name of work-life balance.

I'll have a late night this week to get ready for Open House (which is Thursday) but am looking forward to my classroom being fully set up so I can leave around 4 each day.


So what did I do instead of work this weekend? 

Friends marathon with my hubby

Slept in while he made a breakfast casserole

Went shopping and got some jeans and wedding gifts.  Lids also had a buy 1, get 1 half off sale and since B couldn't find a second Broncos one he liked...

I got a new Cardinals one!  I also practiced making funny faces while I spent more time than I cared to looking at cleats at Dick's Sporting Goods with the hubs.  He suggested we get a kayak.  I am horrible at kayaking. 

 
Had date night at Dave and Buster's with 2 other couples.  

This drink was too overwhelmingly Fireball, but I got to keep the sea monster.

Took a dear friend out for a champagne tea for her bridal brunch.  She gets married in 2 weeks!  

It was fun to get dressed up and have girls time.


I feel as well rested as I can be and ready to start another week of school.  Next weekend is already planned, so it's nice to have something to look forward to at the end of a long week.  But to be totally fair, I'm also looking forward to the eclipse mayhem being over.


 

A Day in the Life Of...

Ten days in and I'm finally having a chance to catch my breath and join the {Blogtember} conversation.

If you're new here, hi and welcome!

I'm in the midst of the beginning of the year chaos that always happens when I have three dozen ten year olds in my cozy classroom.  (Okay, there's only thirty five, but close enough!)

I'm also in the middle of wedding planning, so my blog is a combination of education and life experiences.

Today's challenge is a simple one:

Saturday, Sept. 10: A day in your life! Take us through it 

with you by sharing a photo each hour of the day.

 Thank goodness it's a weekend because I need a break!  (The beginning of the year is rough y'all!)

8:18 am:

B's off golfing and the house is quiet.  I have the gentle hum of a fan next to me, the puppy snoozing on the floor, and our two cats are curled up on the bathroom floor, enjoying the sunlight.  

I got to sleep in this morning.  My alarm(s) go off starting around five during the week, so sleeping in until eight was a treat this morning.  I enjoyed the last of the blueberry mini muffins for breakfast and tried to enter grades, but the server is having difficulties.  Darn, I guess that work will have to wait until Monday!

The rest of the day consists of relaxing, most likely a nap, going to finalize wedding flowers with our florist, the grocery store, and a nice dinner date.  My brother and his lovely girlfriend got me a gift card for my birthday to the Cheesecake Factory, so hooray for date night!

Tomorrow we're doing our first painting class (a "design and wine" one with mimosas) where B and I are painting Harry Potter inspired wine glasses:

(At least that's the goal of what they'll look like!)

We're also taking a friend dinner tomorrow because she had major surgery yesterday and feeding herself and her kids should be the last of her concerns during recovery.  The meal train was organized by Sunshine committee at work (where I'm co-chair) and it's just another reason I love where I work.  We look out for one another and it's such a welcoming, caring, and loving environment.

Our weekend will end with me yelling loudly at the refs during Sunday night football when my Cardinals take on the Patriots.  I'm hoping for an injury-free game and a Cardinals win!

How are you spending your day/weekend?

Permission granted

This is a lesson I continue to struggle with.

We had a busy weekend...as it should be.

Friday

In a constant struggle of me vs my allergies, they won.  There was a ton of dust and pollution in the air on Friday, which wrecked havoc on my sinuses.  So while he went out to softball, I graded all that I could, worked on school work, did laundry, and tidied up the house.

Saturday

The morning started with a walk for Waffles and trying our new yoga work out DVD.  I like it so far! We picked out his groomsmen attire, had a relatively healthy lunch at Sweet Tomatoes, and went to the craft store and Target. I did a little more work before headed out to a dear friend's daughter's sixth birthday party.  There were copious amounts of sugar involved.  Afterwards, me and B met up with some family members to see the Spazmatics, which are an 80s cover band.  It was a fun show with super cheap drinks, but I wasn't used to being up til 2 am.  

Sunday

Without much sleep, we got up and took Waffles up to the snow.  We met up with some friends at the Mt. Charleston lodge and drove up from there.  We had only one minor skid issue, but found a nice chunk of unaltered snow to play in.  Once Waffles discovered she could eat the snow, she was in heaven.  It started gently snowing while we were up there, which was nice and relaxing.  

We stopped by his parents' house to return their tupperware (from Thanksgiving...sorry Mike and Kathy!).  We picked up lunch on the way home and spent the afternoon half-heartedly working and watching Netflix.  Tomorrow is the 100th day of school and while we don't do much in fifth grade, I wanted to set up a selfie station with props in the teachers lounge, which required a gathering of random supplies from my house.  I completed one state in the next region (slated to start this week?), but then a nap occurred...and then the dilemma hit.

Do I plow through and conquer another state?  Or do I enjoy my evening?

I chose the later.  I put forth a good five hours of work between school ending Friday and now.  That's enough.  That's more than enough.

Am I 100% ready for tomorrow? No.  I know what I'm teaching, but I have copies to make and lesson plans to copy & paste into the online server.  

However, instead of stressing, I'm going to take Waffles for a walk with B, paint my toes, and swap out my nails for a new Valentine's themed jammicure.  I'll pack my lunch for the morning, toss my water bottle in the freezer, and get lots of beauty rest.

 

Good for the soul

It's Sunday. I spent an hour this morning (yes, before 8 am) grading, entering grades, and doing lesson plans. I did what was due today for homework for my grad class...and that's enough.

I'll look at Thursday's homework during prep this week.  

In terms of other "school prep", I'll make my lunch in the morning and go to the grocery store today.

I work really, really hard during the week. I am there early, stay late, help when I can, volunteer to do more than I should, and sometimes feel like I'm carrying the weight of others.  Okay, I often feel that.  But enough is enough.  

I'm reclaiming my weekends.

I'll do what is necessary, but I'm capping work on the weekends to two hours between Friday afternoon and Sunday night.  

Other than that? It will have to wait.

I'm not being valued by my district. I'm not being treated with respect and compensated fairly.

So I'll take more time for me and fuel my soul with things that make me happy.

On today's agenda? A hair cut, checking out TJ Maxx, taking a nap, starting a new book, and watching football this evening with B.

What are you doing for you today?

Thankful November, day 13

First and foremost, I'm thankful it's Friday.  Even though it was only a four day work week, having Wednesday off (in honor of Veterans' Day) threw everything out of schedule.

My students are getting antsy for a break and the number of write ups is increasing. I've got a parent-teacher conference this morning, but luckily I'm optimistic.  This parent is honest enough to know her son can be a stinker, but I approached it as a problem solving meeting so we could figure out some strategies that will help him be more successful.  The student is also coming to the meeting, which I think is important.  He needs to be accountable for his actions, but also know we're on his side and want him to do well.

I'm thankful for the weekend.

 B has a bye week for softball, so we're trying a new restaurant and ice cream place with some of our friends (and bridal party).  Tomorrow brings a joint birthday party for some of the cutest three and seven year old munchkins.  Sunday we're participating in a cut-a-thon:

Nothing major (don't worry mom!), just getting hair cuts and supporting a good cause.  I also plan to finish my teacher's guide and chronological order sort for The Sword of Summer to post on TpT.  Fifty pages and counting!

I'm thankful for my coworkers and their activism.  One penned an amazing letter that's going viral.  Because of that letter, two more were on PBS last night.  They did an amazing job of not placing blame, but rather talking about how these teacher shortages and money mismanagement is impacting them personally.  I'm quite proud and eager to see how the school district and union respond. I'm thankful my admin is totally on board, otherwise that could be uncomfortable at work.

What (or who) are you thankful for today?