I hope you enjoyed the Memorial Holiday. After some consideration, I decided not to post last Monday. Rather, I decided to really take the day off! Rare but refreshing happening! I hope you did too:-).
Throughout my career it has been difficult to balance work and life. Teaching has consumed so many hours in preparation. That effort has defined me the teacher and, for the most part, defined me. As I coach student teachers, we often discuss this imbalance when they ask how to manage the time. I try to tell them that as you start, it might cause doubt. At times being so consumed has brought me down. But these days, a more mature outlook allows me to see it as a point of pride. I share the following with newbies....
There are three types of teachers that I have identified over the years:
1. Pre-occupation - teach during the day but put more emphasis on endeavors after school
2. Professional - never create only assign, knowledgable but not personally connected
3. Passionate - doing things better in the classroom consumes your thoughts, keeps you up at night and when you are driving to or from school, you find your thoughts wandering back to school
I advise the choice is theirs! However, by going all in, I find that it no longer consumes energy, but I find the passionate choice creates energy. That is how I roll these days and it gives me great comfort and peace with what I deliver to my students.
Join the conversation by signing up on the blog page (see upper right corner) or add your comments on FB or Twitter. Would love to hear your thoughts about the work/life balance.
Thanks and have a great week! The end is near, enjoy:-)
Mike Ward
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