In the past, I struggled with bringing my work home with me. I’m sure there are many teachers out there that can relate. How can we not bring work home when there’s so much to do and so little time to complete things??? I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. It’s going to take practice. But, it can be done.
When I would bring work home from the classroom — whether it was grading, planning, or even contacting parents — my teacher bag would often sit in a corner in my home untouched. I had the best if intentions. I really thought I was being efficient. But, it turned out to be one of my greatest stressors. Then, we suddenly found ourselves all teaching from home! So, now what do we do? The short answer is, the same as what we were doing before.
After I left the traditional classroom three years ago, I had time to really reflect on what was working for me and what wasn’t. Bringing work home was not ideal. I scoured so many teacher blogs to figure out how I could eliminate this massive stress from my life. I discovered four strategies that have given me my life back: set work hours, prioritize, ask for help, and forgive yourself.
Setting work hours may seem a bit silly. After all, we all have contract hours we are supposed to work. But, that’s our problem…our contract hours don’t seem to be enough. So, we end up taking work to do beyond our contract hours. This is true now as many of us are working (at least some of the time) from home. But, constantly working isn’t good for our well-being. We need to set limits. Limit how much time you spend beyond your contract hours. For me, spending sixty to ninety minutes beyond my contract hours works. During that time, I can plan and prep, contact families, evaluate student work, etc. Whatever isn’t completed gets moved to the next day. This is where prioritizing becomes important.
If we are planning on stopping work at a certain time and moving unfinished business to the next day, we can’t leave emergencies and deadlines. Work on emergencies and deadlines first. Decide for yourself what constitutes an emergency. Develop a plan and establish small goals for meeting your deadlines. I usually work on these during my first thirty minutes beyond my contract hours. I also have set up specific days for planning, prepping, meetings, and professional development. Prioritizing and setting small goals has made a world of difference in my teaching practice.
Asking for help has also made a world of difference in my teaching practice. This was one of my biggest hurdles to overcome. I’ve never been good at asking for help. I get very shy about asking for volunteers or seeking advice. But, it’s essential for not bringing extra work into the non-teacher part of your life. It’s ok to delegate easier tasks that don’t have a deadline to volunteers and other helpers. It’s ok to ask for help and advice from colleagues. Knowing that you have a team of people that want you to be the most successful educator you can be does wonders for your mental and emotional health!
Finally, you need to forgive yourself. You are human. You will make mistakes. Sometimes, deadlines will be missed. Other times, you might work longer than the time you’ve set for yourself. It’s ok. You will get back on track, and you and your students will have a successful school year. Just remember to keep moving forward.
I hope this was somewhat helpful. Teaching is such a unique and challenging profession. And, we’ve all been handed a very unique challenge with the circumstances of this year. I hope that you are all having a great start to the new school year. Remember that I’m on your side and I’m here to help. I would love for you to share your teacher well-being strategies in the comments. Let’s all be each other’s biggest supporters!
Happy teaching!
Pina Rose
PinaRose Education 