Ryan's work has many motto's and one of them is "work life balance" for all employees. I could dispute this is SO many ways, but that would be another blog!
After teaching for seven years, seeing friends burn out, laid off and change their focus in life, I have decided that I need a better 'work life balance'. I know that many of you are now thinking "she is just a PE teacher, how much could her work be interfearing with her life?" To that I would say that right now there is so much pressure coming from society, the government, my superintendent, my district resource teacher, my principal and my peers that it feels like I could explode (and I'm not even a classroom teacher who is getting it ten times worse than me!).
What I have decided is that I will work as hard as I can when I'm at work, and if it doesn't get done, it sits there until the next day. No more staying until six o'clock or seven o'clock at night getting everything done. No more checking school e-mail while at home. I need to say 'no'. If it means I work through my lunch so that I can have a nice dinner with Ryan and watch TV or read for an hour, then so be it. With a staff meeting this Monday until 4:30 and parent/teacher conferences on Tuesday and Thursday until 7:30, I think that is enough time put in 'at the office' for one week. I will be leaving my school bag at school each night and going home to enjoy my real life.
I always hear the "but you have summers off" line and it drives me nuts. Let me give you a rundown of my last week and tell you how much time we actually put in 'at the office'.
Monday: meeting until 4:30
Tuesday: meeting until 4:30
Wednesday: meeting until 5:00
Thursday: meeting until 5:00
Friday: school carnival until 7:00
Keep in mind that school gets out at 2:45 and the meetings are right after school. So this means that most of us end up staying past the meeting time to get ready for the next day (or some of us take it home). There are also a number of us who get to work at 7:00 to have those extra minutes to prep before the kids come in. So, imagine working 7am-7pm a few times a week and then complain that teachers get summers off!
(Okay, enough of my rant).
Of course this does not mean that I do not love my kids as much as I always have, I think it just means that it's time to switch my focus to me and my little family of Ryan and Oscar.
Ta-ta for now.
My parents were both in education, mom a teacher, dad a principal. Plus all of my aunts and uncles were in education. I watched them all go through what you describe. A teacher's day is not over when the kids leave. Our dining room table at home was always covered with papers to grade, projecs, lesson plans, etc. My parents evenings went into the late evening every night. Being a teacher is tough gig!
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