Its Time
I love my smartphone. Really. I do. I love having tweetdeck on my phone so that I can keep up to date with my PLN. I love having news apps so that I can keep up on whats happening around the country and world. I love the game & NOOK apps so that i can have downtime when I am away from home. I love it. Honestly.
One of the perks (?) Of a smartphone is being connected all the time. With friends, family, coworkers. I can phone, text, or email. Maybe it occurred to me while at NELMS. Where I was disconnected from all of that because I had limited service. Come Sunday I was ready to face it...my professional life is overrunning my personal.
So this morning, while speaking to my assistant principal, I decided to remove my work email from my phone. I feel like I work hard for my students. I spend time in and out of work to plan for them. I collect resources. I create engaging lessons/units. I try to model what it means to be a responsible human being on and offline. I try to deal with behaviors as they arise. I try.
But I think it is time to leave my job at the classroom door. I will still work at home to prepare for my students. But I can no longer allow work related emails interfere with my time away from the classroom. I need to have a clear head so I can sleep soundly. So i can think clearly with my students. So I can give them my all. It has been a difficult decision for me to make. But a necessary one.
Would love to hear how others handle their professional and personal lives!
Good for you Tracy. Always a challenge to find balance in a profession that demands so much.
ReplyDelete@patmjohnson
I agree! As teachers it's hard to draw a line between work and home. There's always more that you can do: more to plan, more materials to get ready, more resources to explore. I just try and remember that although my work is important, my family is important too. The time I have with my family is precious. I really try hard to do as much as I can at work, and then I have a strict no work until the baby is asleep rule. That's how I try to balance it all.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that advice, Torrey! I'm trying a 'no work unless my husband is on the Wii' rule :).
ReplyDelete