Allisence: No Hope for Balance

Despite previous bouts of self-doubt and concern, I feel like my aides and I are finally starting to gel. Weekly AIMSweb progress monitoring has given me solid data that my students are making progress in both reading and math; my district’s special services director just informed me I’m getting a SMARTBoard this week; and somehow I’m still alive after a month of juggling writing lesson plans, doing paperwork, being a part of committees, and finishing up grad school.

Yeah, I’d say things are going pretty awesome right now. I know you’re thinking I just cursed myself as soon as I typed those words. I think so, too. But aside from that, I will share with you my biggest worry. My absolute biggest worry at the moment is that there’s no hope for balance in my life.

I wake up at 5:25 every morning and leave my apartment by 6:02. I walk on over to Phoenix’s Central Station (certainly not as grand as NYC’s Central Station, but I can pretend) and hop on the 12 going north. I’m usually at school by about 6:37 and school starts at 8 a.m.

I don’t eat lunch because I have at least one student in my room at all times. My last student leaves at 3 p.m. From there, I go to meetings; develop lesson plans; and prepare for a ridiculous number of observations, each of which require me to write six-page lesson plans. If it’s Monday night, I go to my own class until almost 10 p.m. And even when I don’t have grad school, I’m usually not home until 6 or 7 p.m.

Typing it all out now, I think my life is a little ridiculous. I’m definitely not saying I don’t enjoy life—I really do. And I know I’m not going out on a limb by saying that most first-year teachers spend a whole lot of time at school. But I’m also not going out on a limb when I conclude that I need a little balance in my life, right?

I mean, I’ve always been told that we should work to live, not live to work. And from what I’ve read, Generation Y-ers (like me) have, in a sense, rebelled against our parents’ values and their work-focused lives. As a generation, we focus more on enjoying our work and, as a whole, focus less on salary and status.

So if all that is true and I really do enjoy my job and staying at school all hours of the day and perhaps night . . . should I really take up running again? What do you think? Keep in mind, I have no kids and my husband is deployed.

On a broader level, how do you define balance in your life? How do you keep your life “balanced”? Is balance even truly possible when you’re a teacher?

Comments

[Kailie]

I am in the same situation as you are. I am a third year special educator/case manager. I work with and case manage 21 students. I co-teach regular education classes. I am working on my graduate degree. I have no kids or husband at home.

I am honestly not sure if balance is truly possible as a teacher. We are currently acting as guidance counselors, educators, disciplinarians, etc. With the types of situations we are exposed to, I am not sure if we can ever really NOT bring it home with us. I know I am constantly worrying about my students, planning a lesson/writing IEPs in my head or thinking of what I could have done, should have done, etc.

I find balance in exercise. I make sure I bring gym clothes with me to work because I know if I don't, I'll go home, sit down and never get back up. I take out any stress from my day on the machines, have some time to myself and stay healthy. I also take a Zumba class once a week with one of my co-workers. It is fun and I'm too busy trying to keep up to worry about my job.

If we do not find the time for ourselves, our jobs, however much we enjoy it, will eat us alive. The more stress we put ourselves through, the faster we will burn out and not be able to be there for our students.

[Ashley]

I hope you are able to find some balance in your life because it will help prevent a nervous breakdown! I can relate to your busy life; being a student teacher, I want to conquer all of the problems in my classroom. I am constantly being told to leave my work at work because I would come home and work on IEPs, ideas for lesson plans, behavior support ideas, etc. My life was stressful and I lived and breathed my job! Finally, I gave myself a few hours a week and was able to get a normal nights' sleep instead of 5 or 6 because I was up worrying about tomorrow all night. I have found these few things to help relieve my stress:

1) running (so I definitely suggest you pick this up again!)
2) reading a FUN book
3) pampering myself (manicure, massage, long hot shower, etc.)

These things don't have to happen all the time (especially the things that cost money), but when I made running a daily routine after work/class, reading for 5-10 minutes before bed, and self-pampering once every two weeks or so, my life seemed to come together a little better.

You sound like a dedicated, effective, and wonderful teacher. I would hate to have you get lost in the hours of work and no play. You know as a special education teacher that modifications and accommodations need to be done for your students - modify your life to accommodate the fun and relaxing time that your life needs!

[Courtney]

I feel that balance in life is the key to success. In order to be successful in all aspects of your life you need to find a balance between work, school, committees, family, friends, religion, hobbies, and most importantly making some time for yourself! One thing that I have learned while student teaching and going to school is that everyday I need to do something for myself!

I think that Rachael makes a great point about making yourself a to do list for each day, so that you have a sense of direction. This will also help so that when you go home your not bringing all of your work with you, you leave it at school and then continue working on it the next day. While this may not work for everybody, I feel that this is something that might work for me when I am a full time teacher trying to balance teaching, family, friends, hobbies, and making myself happy, so that I can be successful!

I think that balance is possible when your a teacher, and even if your only setting aside 15 minutes a day for yourself at first, that's a good start. Go ahead and take up running again or join a Zumba class!

[Rachael]

I'm student teaching right now and I feel overwhelmed at times and think how am I going to do this on my own when I'm done. Things I have picked up from my cooperating teacher is make a list and only stick to that list each day. You may not get through everything but at least you have a direction for yourself then trying to remember what you need to get done. At the end of each school day write your list for the next day. This way your not spending hours after school working on everything. Also, give yourself a time that your want to leave school and try to stick to that time. My cooperating teacher told me that was her plan for this year. Another thing, I think you should start running, it will be a stress release and a time just to yourself. When being prepared for student teaching they advised us to find something that we could do for ourselves. That could be exercising, going for a walk, read, religion, etc. I advise you do something like that to help release some energy or stress. We all have to put aside time for ourselves each and everyday, not just once and awhile.

[allisence]

I know, I know. You're all right. I need to find some time for myself. One of the teachers in my school mentioned to me today that she's going to start a staff Zumba class in January so if I can just ignore all the voices telling me I should run and hold on until January, I can totally dance my worries away … in the library! :)

[Megan Flock]

I know exactly how you feel! I am student teaching right now and my teacher is new to the elementary level. We are making our own lesson plans and units. Each week is a different theme so we try to make activities, worksheets, and other things based on this theme. We try to incorporate everything from alphabet to shapes to colors to numbers to daily living skills in our week. Sometimes it is SO overwhelming. But when I sit down and think about I wouldn't want my life any other way. It keeps me busy and I really enjoy it. Not only am I teaching right now but I am also coaching, taking a class, working, and trying to find time to myself. So to answer your question, to balance your life, you need to MAKE time for yourself and find something you enjoy or you will get burnt out too quickly.

[Nicole]

Let me start off by saying I'm so glad that everything is going so well for you! It's great to hear how much you love your job. I agree with you when you say you worry about balance. It's great to be so involved in your work and love every minute of it, don't get me wrong, but as you and others have said, it's also important to have that balance in your life. You could easily get burnt out by the busy schedule you have now. I like Jesse's idea when he talked about seeing if colleagues do anything for fun together, that would be great for you. Aside from that, I think that you should do something for yourself every day, such as read a good book, knit, take a walk, or take up running again. Even if you only do one of these things for a half hour each (or most) days, I think that would really be beneficial to you. Teaching is tricky, because we have the personality that wants to give every single thing we've got to our students. But we have to remember to take care of ourselves too. When we are balanced, we become better teachers. We are able to give even more to our students.

[Alyssa Mackey]

First of all, congrats on getting the SMARTboard! That will be so much fun for your classroom to have! You can do so much with that equipment and the SMARTboard network gives you lots of resources to use when you are planning new lessons. Never be afraid to use other's lessons and adapt them to your kids. It feels great to develop your own, but based on the amount of time that can go into that, it is almost just as easy to find something that has worked for someone else, and make it work for you! I LOVE keeping busy, and as I see it, you definately can live with that too. Continue to roll with the punches, and adapt to all the craziness around you, because sorry to say, I know it will probably get worse! Remember that with the more experience you gain, some task areas that take you a long time (writing lessons, accomodating assignments) will soon come natural to you. Save everything somehow because you never know when you may need it again!

[Caitlin]

I am student teaching full time right now along with taking a night class and trying to find time to work. I definitly understand the stess it can cause and the need for finding balance in your life! It is a challange to find some free time. One of my college professors once told me that it is most important to take care of yourself first because when you do that, you and your students will feel more at ease. Plan a fun activity with friends for the weekend! Take some time for yourself.

[Mary]

Allisence: Well I will say it again, TeachersPayTeachers will give you balance, not just my store called "Old School Works" but any one of the many talented teacher/authors that are writing and selling lesson plans, centers, units etc... on the site.

This is a place where you can invest in quality lesson plans from people who know what works in the classroom. It is a place that will help you balance your life. I was where you are 30 years ago and I wish I had this resource. I spent hours and hours developing materials and staying after to use the mimeograph machine and copy the dittos! Boy, am I old.

Many materials on TpT are offered free and will help you build your classroom instructional supplies and tricks on a budget, plus save you time.

Teaching itself is a very isolating profession and even though we give new teachers mentors and support, there is just not enough time in the day. Your mentor teacher has a class of their own and can only provide so much time. I think that teaching always takes more time than other professions especially if you care, that is why it is hard for you to balance your life, because you do care. Please do not get discouraged. When you get your graduate degree that will help since you will not have to take night classes anymore, I did that for two years and was glad when it was done.

I'm not sure I agree with your comment about your parents' generation, if that was true then there would not have been teachers previous to generation y! Look around your school you will see plenty of people your parent's age teaching and I am sure they will tell you that it got better as time went on. Teaching has always been about, maybe just maybe reaching that one child, and making a difference in their life. Most teachers do not enter the teaching field for either the status or salary. You will find that as you gain in experience then planning, classroom management and all the extra stuff that is expected of you as a staff member will become easier. It is a rewarding profession and I would not ever change my choice to go into teaching and I hope you can push through and not become part of that statistic that drops out.

I can already tell you care about your kids. Sometimes you just have to shut the book, turn off the classroom lights and go out and do something fun so you don't burn out. If running is your thing and it will relax you and take some of the stress off then do it. If you do not take care of yourself then you cannot take care of your class.

Mary

If you send me your e mail address at my store(there is a place to do that) I will send you the IEP packet for writing objectives free of charge to keep you going and tell me if there is anything else you see that you like, I have worked for many years with student teachers and master's interns and I can tell if you leave teaching it will be a loss to the profession so anything I can do to help let me know.

[Jesse James]

Making time for yourself is key when it comes to being able to create a balanced life style. Personally I would speak with other teachers and see what they do for fun. I know a lot of faculty have things they may do as a group one night a week, such as a softball league. The allows you to not only get out of your house/classroom, but it allows you to get to know your feel professionals as well. For me personally, balance is something that doesn't come easy. Yes goals are important, but I'm a firm believer in living for today instead of worrying for tomorrow.

[Morgan]

I have been worried about this as well. I'm still in school, and will be student teaching in a couple of months. From what I've heard from my mentors, life will really take off once I start with student teaching. Many people have told me that you need to know who you are when you aren't a teacher, so that you don't get burnt out. I'm very passionate about a lot of things, and I sense that this will be hard for me to do. I am trying to remain interested in my life outside of school, even when my free time is very limited. Thank you for sharing about your struggle. I know that many people can relate!

[Kathleen]

Balance is very hard to find in life. As a student teacher, I wonder how my life will be balanced in the future. The teachers room that I am teaching in always has students in it. My lunch hour usually contains eating with one or two of my students because they need to have eyes on them at all times and usually one person is in the room unless my teacher and myself take lunch in the room. I think that it works well, but that is constant 8 hours with students. I don't mind it but I understand I need to find a few minutes a day to catch up on things.

I also understand getting up and going through the whole day but then also having prior commitments after teaching is over too. Still being a student at a University, I feel like I have another life after teaching too.

One of my solutions is taking a workout class every wednesday night. It makes me go, but its halfway through the work week so I let a lot of tension out. Also, I take 10 minutes before, after, and after a big project to just STOP and do nothing. I think that making time for something that you love to do is the key to keeping your sanity. Just take a few extra minutes out of your busy life and breath.

[Mark]

I believe change is happening in education faster than ever. The past decade has been ridiculous. Standards, extension on required education, a jump in walkthroughs and reviews, and now Race to the Top has everybody standing on their heads. I have accepted the fact that as a teacher change is the only normalcy we will every know. I suppose people could look at that with two different perspectives. Some would see constant change as a problem, never being able to get comfortable and potentially set cruise control on their career. I however find it attractive. My job WILL be different every year. My job will constantly be a dynamo of change and activity and only the best will be able to keep up. I look at it as an awesome challenge.

As for your question. I think you should definitely make time to jog. Sure Monday-Friday absolutely flies by. But you still need to find time for YOU. Just be sure to make your weekends go as slow as possible.