It's been a wonderful year in teaching for me. I've had the amazing experience of working with the same group of students for a second year now, and I just love this group of kids. I also have wonderful supportive colleagues, administrators, and co-teachers. It's hard not to want everything to flow perfectly, and to work as hard as it takes for that to be true as much of the time as possible.
But it's also December. I've had some kind of nasty, shape-shifting cold for nearly 3 weeks that had me sleeping 16 hours the night after Thanksgiving dinner. It's getting colder and darker. And of course, grades are due soon. I love the work of teaching, but I'm on the brink of exhaustion and I have to begin conserving time and energy so I don't hit burn out anytime soon.
I've got an experiment in the works. For the next week (and probably longer), I will leave school no later than 5:00, and I will not bring any work home. Some other things might have to change in response: I might have to arrive earlier, I might talk less with colleagues on preps or after school, not take on any exciting new endeavors, and perhaps I'll find other ways to be more efficient with planning and grading. But I'll get the work done and have enough time in the evenings to relax and take care of myself--which I sorely need, and which will help me come to school each day with the enthusiasm my students expect and need from me over the next month.
What do you need to get frugal with between now and the winter break?
[image credits: almostfrugal.com cecilialevy.blogspot.com]
Love it, Ariel.
This is such an important lesson -- especially for new teachers -- simply because we (1). work in a profession where we are never provided with enough time on the clock to get our work done well and (2). we're the kind of people who feel like crap when we walk away leaving work undone.
Getting frugal means protecting yourself -- and forgetting to protect yourself doesn't help anyone.
You rule.
Bill
Posted by: Bill Ferriter | December 09, 2011 at 07:36 PM