When I started this blog, I wanted it to be a place that you all could come for ideas, activities and hear about what has worked in my upper elementary classroom. Also, I wanted this to be a place that I could share about the real life of teaching and touch on some topics about teaching that aren’t always seen on social media. Today, I want to share a story with
Dear Teacher Friend,
I am going to share a story with you today. My name is Sammie and I am currently working in my 10th year as an educator and teacher. My story starts like so many of your stories. My first couple years teaching, I did not have boundaries and didn’t even know what it would look like to be a teacher and have boundaries. Every night and weekend, I was emailing parents, grading papers, planning engaging lessons, cutting out laminate and talking non-stop about teaching. I even spent most Friday nights doing one of those things I just listed! Honestly, I thought that it was it meant to be a teacher and I thought I could only be a great teacher by putting everything I had into teaching. Towards the end of my 2nd year teaching, I realized that my whole life had become teaching and being a teacher was starting to define me as a person. I realized that long-term I could not continue this and needed to discover myself more outside of being a teacher. Can you relate to this?
I decided I needed BOUNDARIES! That word sounded so scary at the time and now that word is one of my favorite words when it comes to being a teacher. I did not just say I needed boundaries one day and then put them all in place the next day. It took time. I started slow. I started by saying that I would not work ANY Friday nights and I started leaving my computer at work occasionally. This was a good start, but still not enough. Over the next couple of years, I started to learn what it really meant to have boundaries and I truly believe that the reason I still love my job is because of these boundaries.
You may be thinking, “that sounds great in theory, but where do I even start?” or “I would love to set boundaries, but I don’t know how to do my job with boundaries!”. I have been there and I want to share with you some ways I have successfully set boundaries in the past 5 years. Because of these boundaries, I believe I have avoided that 5th and 6th year teacher burnout. These ways that I am going to share with you are still ways that I set boundaries for myself today.
First, I have set boundaries by scheduling in times that I will work at home every Sunday. Okay, that may sound a little extreme or you may even think it is too Type A, but trust me, it works! Each Sunday, I choose 2 nights during the week that I plan to work at home and one time on the weekend. Then, the nights I do not plan to work at home, I leave my computer at school. This was the KEY to not “accidentally” taking out my computer and working at home.
The second boundary I have set is an email boundary. Now, there are many thoughts on how to handle parent emails and emails while it is not our “contract” hours. I decided to NOT put my email on my phone. If I am being transparent, I had my email on my phone for years, but after receiving a not very nice email from a parent on a Friday night at 8 PM, I realized this needed to change. So, I took my email off my phone and have never put it back on. Also, I made a rule for myself that I would not respond to parent emails after 6:00 to have some time to myself. Ultimately, you have to find what works for you, but when I set these boundaries, I found that I was able to disconnect at times that I was not able to disconnect before.
The last change I made was prioritizing my own self-care. Every weekend, I choose at least one activity that will provide me with some kind of self-care. Some of my favorite activities are getting a pedicure, going on a long walk listening to a podcast with Starbucks, trying out a new restaurant with some friends, finding a new area of town to explore, reading a book on the couch with a glass of wine and some weekends this means binge watching a new show on Netflix. By taking care of myself, I am a happier and better teacher for my students.
I hope you learn from my mistakes and learn to set boundaries immediately! Today, I am sharing what has worked for me, but that does not mean that it is what would work for you. Start with one of these areas and figure out the boundaries that work best for you. Trust me, 5 years from now, you will look back and be grateful for these boundaries.
From the heart of a fellow teacher,
