CREATING A WORK/LIFE BALANCE AS A TEACHER

Hi everyone, welcome back to Too Cool for Middle School. It's the beginning of a new school year, so we are in that transition time where summer was amazing, we had some time off, now we're getting back into that regular work schedule as well as like the beginning of the year stuff where you have to spend a little bit more time getting ready and preparing and it feels overwhelming. And I've noticed that a lot of people on like Instagram and here on YouTube have been asking about work-life balance tips because this is that time of year when we're really trying to set like a new routine for ourselves that's going to be sustainable and not burn us out. And it's also a time, I think, if, you know, you're like on teacher social media at all where you see a lot of other people like doing the most, maybe they're doing more than you and you're like, I don't know if I can spend two weeks before school starts setting up my classroom and have any sanity left, like am I a bad teacher for not doing that? And I mean, off the top, no you're not, you're fine. My goal every year is to not do any unpaid time, zero unpaid days, I did a little bit, a little bit this year, I'm always trying to get down to zero, that is the goal. But anyway, let's talk about this a little bit. Teaching is kind of a unique job in that it just doesn't really end when our contract time ends. As much as we want it to, it's just one of those things where like you have to be ready for the next day, there just isn't a way around it. Like in other professions, for one, if they have a presentation of some kind, like that's a really big deal and they spend a lot of time preparing for it, it's very stressful, they give the presentation and then they get like some time off from that because usually that's like a really big deal. We are doing that every single day and have to be prepared to, you know, run a classroom, give presentations, do the teaching every single day, really like without ever getting a break. So that's pretty unique. And then we're also just never really given enough prep time. Like I do have a prep period every day and it's enough to like prep for the next day, but then, you know, also I have to grade assignments and input those assignments and contact parents and, you know, sometimes like reorganize areas of my room or like get set up for some kind of an activity that we're going to do the next day. Like rarely is everything finished by the end of the day. Plus you're available by email. So sometimes kids are like emailing you after work hours asking about homework or something or parents are emailing you or maybe you get communication from your district or something like that. And so it's just a job where it very easily spirals into taking work home, into doing work over the weekends, into working until late at night. And it shouldn't. And we have to be aware of that and push back against it as much as we can while still doing a good job. So I do have kind of like a mindset that I'm like trying to keep in the forefront this year. And I'll talk about that in just a second. The other thing about teaching though, is that most of us probably not only have to have a work life balance, but we have to have a work life side hustle balance because most of us are not paid enough by our job in order to function in this economy. That's just the reality for so many people. Both my husband and I are teachers. We live in Southern California. We're paid well from like a bird's eye view of, you know, national teacher salaries. But we live in a really expensive place to live and we have to live here in order to get to our jobs. And that seems to be the case for just everyone around the nation. Like the proportionality is just not there. So if you live in a place where cost of living is a lot cheaper, you're going to get paid a lot less and you're still kind of struggling to pay all your bills. I don't know if there's like a magic state or district where teacher salaries are enough to meet the cost of living and to pay back all of the student loans that it took in order to become qualified to do the job that you're doing as a public servant. So there's that. If you have a side hustle as well, let us know in the comments down below what you do. Both me and my husband work, take care of the kids, and then also have our side hustles. He coaches basketball and then I do like this. Although I don't make any money off of YouTube unless I have a sponsored video. But it's, you know, like social media stuff in general. Teachers pay teachers. That kind of a thing. And I'm very, very grateful for it because I don't know what else we would do. But again, it's just a little bit more to manage. So the first thing that I like to keep in mind is that there are different seasons, even just within one school year. So right now it's the beginning of the school year for us. I'm spending more time in my classroom. Like, you know, I redid a couple of bulletin boards just because like I need to be very clear about the Chromebook charger station expectations. I'm going to spend time on this right now and then it's going to make my life easier for the rest of the school year and I won't really have to worry about it. It'll probably be up for the next couple of years. So there are certain things that I spend more time on at the beginning of the school year or just like different times throughout the school year and then I benefit from those things throughout the year or, you know, for years to come. So I try to keep that in mind, you know, if I feel like those things are kind of sucking my time. I think where the burnout comes in is when you spend a really long time on something or like a lot of effort on something like for your students and then it's just like completely unappreciated or, I don't know, you like set up these cool supply boxes for your kids and then they just like trash them the next day. Or, you know, if you spent like a really long time making this great unit for your students and then for some reason like admin said you couldn't teach it or something like that. Like those are the times when you feel really burnt out and you wish that you hadn't spent the time on something. So the longer you teach you kind of start to like figure out what those things are going to be. Like there may not be any return on this time investment for you. So maybe don't put your time into that thing. But if it's something that's going to be beneficial for you and for your students, maybe right now is a good time to put some time into it and then you can relax a little bit later. So throughout the school year you're going to have those times where you're just staying at work a little bit later so that you can leave right at the end of contract time. Hopefully, you know, for a little while after that. But then even throughout your teaching career there are going to be very, very different seasons. So this is my 11th year of teaching and I've gone through quite a few seasons at this point. And for some reason that didn't really like occur to me as a new teacher and then sometimes I would like feel bad about not doing some of the things that I did as a newer teacher but not realizing that like my life had changed quite a bit. So when I first started teaching I was married but I didn't have any kids and I was in grad school and also doing this thing called induction that you have to do in the state of California as a new teacher. It's like another credential on top of your credential. But my schedule was super, super busy. So I would teach all day and then on certain days I would have to go to these two hour mandatory like trainings and then after that I would drive for an hour to a whole different city and take three hour long grad school classes while I was getting my masters and then drive home, go to work the next day. My side hustle at that time was teaching piano lessons and voice lessons. So I did that a couple of days a week. So I was really, really busy but I was doing some things that were setting me up for the future. So I have my clear credential. I never want to think about that again. I have my master's degree that allowed me to get a bit of a raise. I never have to think about that again. I really enjoyed my time as a piano and voice teacher and I miss it. I kind of like sort of in the back of my mind I was like thinking about maybe doing that again someday. But yeah at that time I was just like hustling all the time. I was so, so busy but I didn't have kids at that point. So I was able to do that and then a couple days after I got my master's degree I had my son and everything changed. And actually you know before that I was also always teaching summer school. I ran musical theater programs and again like those are things that I miss. I kind of like look back at those things with nostalgia and I miss those kids and I miss having all the time to invest in those programs and to like you know apply for grants and take the kids to Disneyland and take them to musical theater shows and do all of that. And at the moment I'm not really that teacher anymore. I can't do those things with my two little kids. It just my life isn't set up that way anymore. Maybe in the future it will be. Maybe when they get a little bit older and more independent I'll have more time to you know do some of those fun things outside of my job description with my students. Again maybe I won't. I don't know but I try not to like beat myself up too much for not doing those things anymore. There's probably an incoming teacher right now that does have the time to do those things for a little while and then maybe that person won't be able to after a couple years and someone else can pick up the slack and later on I jump in again. You know we just all have these different seasons and people I think they kind of forget about like how stressful just any adult's life can be at any given moment. There are people who are going through divorces and that's going to be a year that's really hard for them and they might not talk about it but they've got like things you know that they've they've got to take care of that are going to take away from some of the things they maybe used to do at school. That's not me I'm just saying. That could be you know like something going on in somebody's life or they could be ill they could be like you know struggling with a sickness or maybe you know one of their parents is sick or maybe going through financial troubles or maybe they have like a kid a teenager who is just causing them to have to spend a lot of time cleaning up messes. You know who knows there are all kinds of things that prevent people from like doing extra things at school even if they would want to. So I think it's important not to ever like expect that from people and we so often do specifically from teachers just because we have these weird narratives around teachers that we're just always supposed to be like selfless and giving no matter what is going on in your life and then like a few random people do that and then like everyone is held to that standard and that's not fair. So don't hold yourself to that standard because there could be something going on in your life that's preventing you from being able to do that or you just want to relax. You just want your own time to be your own time. I think especially because of living through this panini and being quarantined and kind of like getting used to having like more time just at home just being here. I want more of that now. I'm like oh I don't I don't need to pack every second of my day every second of my weekend. I'm gonna leave days unscheduled and just have time to hang out with my family or just like sit in bed and read at the beginning of a Saturday morning. I did that today with Mariah. Jensen was watching TV. You know like I want to have those slow times and I'm not willing to like volunteer for everything sign up for everything because I want some slow moments. For me going into this new school year it is different because now I have two kids so this is just like a different schedule for me. So I've got to wake up in the morning get myself ready get them ready and then get them both to school slash daycare before I ever get to work get into my classroom get everything turned on and kind of like okay what are we doing today? So for me what that means is I have a schedule on our refrigerator that has like time stamps like this is what we've got to do every day this is the time we've got to be out the door every day just because it helps me to just like see that like okay let me just follow this and even though there's unpredictable things in the morning with little kids if we can kind of follow this I think I'm gonna end up to work on time and not get fired. I have a weekly menu that we've been following for the last like two weeks and so I'm just making the same thing for dinner every Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday bring in the same thing for lunch as pretty much as much as possible and just trying to keep things simple and we have like a nighttime routine to try and get everybody into bed. Nighttime around here we all we all love nighttime we all love relaxing watching tv reading doing whatever and the time will slip away from us all four of us love to stay up so I have to have that little guide to be like oh it's bath time we've got to get this done now otherwise you know we're all going to be up way too late and then be cranky in the morning so some kind of a schedule for me at least is really helpful. So we signed up my my six month old for daycare for the first time she started last week I wish that I could you know stay home with her for longer but this is America and we don't get to. The only reason I was able to stay out as long as I did is because of the side hustle I wouldn't have even been able to heal from the c-section and everything that goes into birthing another human being if I didn't have the side hustle my regular job was not enough to cover it so there's that but anyway she just started daycare there were like two options like we leave her till 3 30 and that's a certain price or until six o'clock and then that's a little bit more expensive and I was like oh let's save money let's do 3 30 my contract time ends at 3 10 although I have to do like traffic duty every so often until 3 20 but the daycare is pretty nearby I'm like okay maybe I can get there by 3 30 every day and just pick her up literally the first day into it I was like oh oh no this is not going to work my husband was like there's no way you can't get her by 3 30 every day you're going to go crazy so we switched her over to the six o'clock time and for me this is my work-life balance I have to pay for it but this is my work-life balance so mornings are really getting myself and everybody ready my daytime is my job my night time is really you know that's the only time I get to like hang out with my kids and just like be with them eat dinner do bath time all of those things so then this little afternoon period that is my me time it's a couple hours right there I'm done teaching I don't have to go pick up Jensen and Mariah for for a little bit so I've already been kind of like planning out what I can do like that's when I go get my nails done every so often I can go home and maybe like get a quick workout in before I go pick them up I can just like run home and like catch up on some cleaning like throw some stuff in the laundry clean the kitchen whatever those things are really hard to do with both of them around I could go to a coffee shop and read and then actually for me my me time and my side hustle generally compete so maybe I need to like catch up on emails from like teachers pay teacher stuff or like reply to questions on YouTube videos or you know create more teachers pay teacher stuff answer emails from you know like companies maybe about doing a sponsored video or whatever because my side hustle pays for my me time I can't get my nails done on my teacher salary so I've got to do a few sponsored posts or something in order to do that so I have to kind of balance like me time and side hustle time because my side hustle pays for my me time so for me that's how I work it out but like you have to have some little pocket of time in your day that is yours maybe it's the end of the day for me it used to be more like the end of the day when I just had Jensen he would go to bed and then like me and my husband had our time and really me and my husband need more of more us time as well we gotta we gotta schedule that in but then we have to pay for our babysitter so our side hustles again will like pay for that babysitter pay for us to go out to dinner or a movie so we need to build in that too and like the annoying thing about me is that there are so many things that I like to do like so many things that I want to do in order to feel fulfilled like I need to get my workout in at least every so often just because you know I need my body to feel healthy I guess that's everybody everyone needs you know to build some movement into their life you know I love to read so you know I've got all my books I need I need time to read and then like post about it and like make videos about it and do Instagram posts about it and come up with new books to read by looking at all your videos and posts and everything I still love to sing and right before the pandemic I was in this amazing gospel choir it was so good it was just like so good for my soul just to be around different people that had like nothing to do with work nothing to do with social media just like friends that were just my friends because of music we had that connection and it was so great but it's from like 7 30 to 10 30 at night so I would love to do it again I'd have to like hire a babysitter to be here while I'm there and Derek's coaching so like I don't know if I'm gonna get to like fulfill that part of me right now but again maybe in a different season maybe that will work out I really love my church family and I want to always be available to serve whenever I can so I'm fine if I like miss church once in a while but if if we need somebody to help resettle refugees or to you know fill backpacks to give away tickets with school supplies at the beginning of the year like I want to be available to do those things so service is really important to me I want to make sure that I'm not so busy that I can't ever help other people out so that's a big thing for me I need time to like keep in contact with my friends at least a little bit you know like get together with people every so often call my family so when I like think about all those things that I need time for in my life and then I'm like it's four o'clock and I'm here like working on a little poster for my classroom or whatever sometimes it's like okay that does not need to get done right now I have so much more going on in my life I I need to go do those things so sometimes just like reminding yourself of all the other things that make you you and all the other things that give you life and give you energy helps you to walk away from stuff in your classroom and really it's those things that energy from the stuff that you love that you do bring into the classroom and it does make you a better teacher so getting away and just like being filled up by other things will benefit you even in your job the last little tip that I have for you is this like mindset that I'm trying to just keep in the forefront this year so this is like a biblical principle that one of our pastors spoke on a little while ago David Arcos this is his these are his words not mine his idea but also Genesis is where he's getting it so even if you're not someone who's a fan of the bible I think this like principle is just a good one to think about because it's more just about like us as humans so what this sermon was about was you know like the creation myth you know the seven days when God creates for six days and then on the seventh day he rested and he said it was good and so what pastor David was talking about was how humans are very similar you know we we love to create sometimes like work and physical labor and toil you know that will like wear us down but creating really is what we all love to do and so if we can create lesson plans for our students if we can create opportunities for our students to have discussions with each other if we can create a welcoming environment in our classroom if we can create structures that allow them to come into our classrooms and know what's expected of them and thrive then we can say that is good I created these things and they were good and now I can rest not because I'm exhausted and I like pushed myself to the absolute brink but because I did good work I created these things all week it was good I'm gonna rest now and it's more about just appreciating what we've accomplished so look back at your week and notice those things that you did you created a lot you accomplished a lot you were there for five days for all of your students providing them with instruction and care and stability and it was good and now you can rest you don't have to continue to push yourself so I'm trying to keep that in mind just reflect on the things that I created and know that I can stop because it was good and now it's time to rest so I'm gonna take my own advice now I've created a video it's good enough and now I'm gonna go rest now I'm gonna go hang out with my family so I hope that this video is helpful for you and just kind of reminds you to do those things outside of work that energize you and fill you I don't know how to solve your side hustle problem we need to pay teachers more I don't know I'm not in charge of those things I really can't make your life all that much less stressful but I hope that something in this video just like it gives you a little bit of peace and allows you to stop working after you've created good things and reminds you to go do those things that you just love for yourself have some me time and take breaks when you need them so please let us know your tips for work-life balance down in the comments I would love to hear from your wisdom as well I hope you have a great week and I'll see you in my next video bye