The Sustained Teacher: Three and Three
One of the best tools I gave myself early on in my teaching career was a rigid clock-out time. As teaching is a salaried position, similar to other professional jobs, there is never going to be someone there to tell me when I should stop working. In my experience, the length of my to-do lists has stayed pretty consistent even as I transition to being a “veteran” teacher. There is always more to do!
My stress level was directly impacted by how futile I felt my efforts were in getting everything done. There never was enough time.
We burn out because we hold ourselves to account for an ever-growing list of work tasks that need to be accomplished. We may end up feeling defeated and telling ourselves there is just not enough time in the day to do what needs to be done. We beat ourselves up for not doing a good enough job.
Balance doesn’t have to be about doing less, it can be about doing with intention. By setting explicit priorities about work that is important to us, we can feel better about what we are able to get done in the day. This decision to focus on what was most important can end up making it possible to give ourselves grace and be grateful for what it is we were able to accomplish in the work day. Without setting priorities, and drowning in the work, it can be impossible for me to practice compassion for myself.
I noticed after a few years teaching, that as much as it satisfied my ego to have the multitude of titles attached to the end of my email signature,, I had lost focus. As a teacher, I care so much about connecting with students and connecting students with science, but it wasn’t obvious to me the specific ways that I was improving my ability to do those things. What was important to me about my teaching practice? How was I actively working towards that every day? Why wasn’t I doing more to develop my practice?
In my busiest year I was advisor to an academic honors club, coaching a competitive robotics team, teaching a new computer science class, and volunteering for the school site council. I actually don’t hold any of these positions anymore. Upon reflection of my professional goals I realized that although I was technically available to fulfill these roles, the time and energy I was putting into these extracurricular activities was not helping me progress towards the educator roles and skills I was most interested in having. I learned to be more selective about where I spent my time and resources, and also where I was choosing to engage myself as a learner. I don’t regret the work I put into building a robotics and computer science community, or in supporting a group of students committed to high academic achievement. However, by learning to be selective about what roles I took on in addition to my classroom teaching, I make room to grow as an educator in the specific ways I want to. In particular, I was making room to be a better teacher.
In order to make a sustainable change, I decided to be more proactive, rather than reactive. I call this approach the “three-and-three”. Essentially, in order to be more sustainable about teaching, we must identify three clear personal goals and three clear professional goals. With this approach we are really exploring how to care of our whole selves by setting goals.
Why Three Professional Goals?
Professional goals act like our north star in the context of anything that has to do with teaching and doing the job. If we only have time in the day to do one task out of our list of ten, which of those tasks is most in line with our professional goals? Which is going to give me the feeling that I am closer to becoming the educator I want to be? We can be more gracious with ourselves when we know we are completing work that is meaningful to us and ultimately supports our growth as educators.
My first year teaching, I spent so much time grading. If I had identified that at that point, my goals as a teacher were more to do with building connections than perfecting my grading practice, I would have been empowered to choose developing better lessons over grading, and cut myself some slack for not getting it all done. I prioritized the aspects of my teaching practice that were important to me, and therefore made more room for doing the things that brought joy into my life. Saying no to the less important stuff means you’re saying yes to the things that matter to you.
Not sure where to begin to craft your professional goals? Consider these umbrellas they could fall under:
Instructional practice
Connecting with students
Groupwork
Grading practices
Curriculum development
Extracurricular
Supporting parents
Student enrollment
Positional leadership
Supporting new teachers
Content knowledge
Why Three Personal Goals?
Personal goals help us cultivate and nurture our identities outside of teaching. They can shift our focus when we are not working. Personal goals will also serve as your excuse for not adding to your plate. Avoid finding yourself working because you have “nothing else to do”!
Personal goals make it easier for us to accept when we don’t meet our standards while doing the job. We can also use personal goals to humble ourselves, as we learn something new (outside of teaching) we are reminded of what it’s like to be a novice. When I made it a goal to learn a new type of dance, I was spending Wednesday nights as a novice which I believe actually made me a better teacher. It taught me empathy and I was personally satisfied with achieving something I had dreamed of for years. Since I was a kid, I was enamored by the beautiful displays of art and culture performed by dancers of ballet folklorico. I realized that by putting attention and time and energy towards things that bring me personal pleasure, it made me feel refreshed about the work I do as a teacher. In a way, exploring my personal interests acted as a salve I can apply to any wounds that the regular school day left me with. Discovering who I am outside of teaching, also brought into sharp focus who I was as a teacher. I had stories to share that students can relate to and engage them in aspects of who I am as a person, making building connections and relationships more fluid. Overall, there were many benefits to my teaching practice from simply choosing to pursue personal goals and interests outside of the classroom.
Share your goals
Identifying these goals for ourselves is actually only the start of this practice for sustainability. Next, tell everyone. By being public about these goals we can also hold ourselves accountable. AND it lets people know what we’re focused on. Therefore so saying “no” to things that don’t align with those professional goals is easier to do without guilt. “Will adding this commitment help me get further away or closer to achieving my goals?” If not, than it’s much easier to turn down an opportunity, and we can even give our reason for doing so.
