It’s imperative during COVID-19
This is my fourth year in education. Though I spent two years teaching English in Beijing, a year tutoring English language learners in St. Louis, and six months as a substitute teacher in Austin, I still feel like a brand new educator.
Now, throw in teaching during a global pandemic; the newness of it all has stretched to a whole other level.
As I pursue my teaching certification and graduate degree, I’m also a resident teacher aka co-teaching in a middle school language arts classroom. My Resident Advisor (RA) and I juggle a hybrid schedule of online and in-person instruction. We have around 35 students total between two blocks on campus— then we have about 50 virtual students using the education platform, Schoology.
Thus, as tempting as it is to always be “on” — answering student and parent emails at any given time, grading student assignments, and working on lessons long after 4pm, I am learning to respect the power of work-life balance during this unprecedented school year. So, here are a few things that have helped me through these unusual times.
Perhaps they might even help you, no matter your career field.
1. Prioritize your health: I bring my lunch and/or snacks to school every day, which includes fruit, vegetables, snack bars, and lots of bottled water. Like most public spaces, water fountains are covered up and shut down, so I find when I have an ample amount of snacks and water, I can focus and assist students with far more effectiveness and excitement.
2. Respect your time: Believe me, I understand how teacher burnout happens. I don’t think there‘s a teacher on this planet that hasn’t put in extra hours after work and on weekends in order to get things done. But this year is unlike last year. We cannot do everything in 24 hours, and we cannot give from an empty well. So, respect your non-work hours and do the things that excite and recharge you.
3. Log off for real: I have finally turned off email notifications on my cell phone. Though this is my fourth year in education, this is my first time teaching in a pandemic. So the struggle to balance work stuff with personal stuff has been real. But setting the boundary of not checking emails after 4pm has been quite lovely.
4. Make friends with folks outside of education (or whatever field you’re in): I have most always had friends across various career fields from sales, the arts, and the medical field. Now, I am intentional about maintaining those friendships, in addition to meeting new friends with interests in the outdoors, roller skating, and creative fields like writing, and filmmaking.
5. Realize every day is a new day: Like most teachers, I want all my lessons to go as planned, but as I’ve learned again and again, it’s okay if they don’t. During lessons, my RA and I have run out of time, as well as forgotten to delete a slide on a Google slide presentation. It’s alright. Tomorrow’s another day. It’s all fixable.
Learning how to balance our personal life and life as a teacher (and graduate student!) can be tough. However, during these times, it is a must to stay afloat for the rest of 2020.
