We can NEVER spend enough time at school. We can NEVER do enough for the kids in our classes who need it. We can NEVER do enough as school leaders for our staff. Chris Lehmann agrees:
Two of my personal goals for my own life is this — I want to be a great father and I want to be a great husband. I want to be powerfully involved in my childrens’ lives. I want to be the husband my wife deserves. If the only way I can be a great principal is to sacrifice those goals, then it’s not interesting to me. If I’m not home for dinner with my family (and dinner is often at 7:00 pm) at least three nights a week, it’s a bad week. I don’t want to miss a Saturday T-ball game because I’m at school….
We have to come up with a better model of urban school reform than the messianic workaholic model. It is unsustainable and it requires Faustian bargains that no one should have to make. The danger of KIPP… the danger of Dangerous Minds and Stand And Deliver and all the newspaper articles that talk about the unmarried / childless teacher / principal who makes their school their entire life is that it excuses us — as a society — from envisioning a healthier model of school.
If we expect teachers to have an ethic of care about our students, we have to have an ethic of care about toward our educators. Asking them to sacrifice their lives to teach doesn’t get us there. And it certainly doesn’t get us toward systemic reform.
Let’s start having that discussion… and every time someone talks about / writes about / makes a movie about some teacher who sacrifices everything to be a great teacher, let’s demand that the authors answer one question — Why can’t we imagine successful schools in our cities that don’t require Herculean effort to succeed? And what does it say about us — and the underlying assumptions we make about teachers, schools and cities — that we cannot.
We need to look after ourselves, staff and each other. We are no good to anyone if we are so frantic we can’t keep all the balls in the air.
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I used to spend every single Sunday afternoon at school doing stuff. Now I don’t. My class probably does suffer from that but I have decided to give some things away and spending Sunday afternoons at school is of them.
I do spend a good part of every school night doing school related stuff. And I try and cut some corners. I never ever feel caught up or up to date. Maybe that’s why I get speeding tickets- trying to be somewhere doing something else.
I needed to read that. Now I need to share it with my staff. Thanks Greg.
As a beginning teacher with a young family I would have to weigh up what is more important too. Thanks for sharing.
Are you ok Greg?
I have felt the same I must admit. My solution –
switch on and switch off.
I have made clear rules for myself such as I leave early one day a week for a pilates class. We have one meeting at school per week maximum and try to have a couple of weeks a term without. We are returning to traditional NZ school values and not trying to be all things to the school and commnuity. For us it is regular classroom instruction and we limit events. We don’t do contracts or buy into packages as you mentioned in your post. Healthy eating and all that – arrgh! We are a school! I have a massage once a month and try to keep fit, work on eating well and sleeping heaps!
To me the most important people in the school are the teachers and staff – get them healthy, creative and enthusiastic and the rest will follow! (And the them includes me)
Look after yourself – you are no good to anyone when the fog of fatigue, overwhelm and guilt plague the mind.
This is a great post and one that all educators should read. I agree with the sentiments expressed – we can all do our very best for our students but we also need to do the very best for ourselves and our family. We need to have a work/life balance, living at school 24/7 does no favours for anyone. As a busy A.P. with school leadership responsibility, I have made the decision this year to be home no later than 4.30/5.00pm. I have two young kids who need to see their Dad and when I get home, it’s ‘Dad Time’. Similarly, I can check on our staff to make sure they are not burning the candle at both ends. Great Schools have Great Staff and Children, but we need to have Great Home/Work balance.
I am a second year teacher coming to grips with the demands of the job. I know that as a beginning teacher I need to put in the hours so that I can lay a solid platform to build a solid teaching career from. I am ambitious to teach to a high standard (as do many teachers) and therefore I am committed to meeting this.
But I have found over the weeks that the more time I spend in my classroom and away from my family that I am doing a disservice to them. I know that I have to provide the best teaching program that I can but it should not come at the cost of having a good home life with my family. I start early in the morning and do a hard days work and at the end of it I have to tell myself in a forceful way that it is the best that I can do in the time given. Now it is time to go and enjoy time with my family.
I feel that this posting has affirmed a sentiment that I’ve been feeling for a little while now.
Thanks Greg