"I wish I could go back to 2014 and just... give myself a hug." I relate to that statement so much. My first year was 2016 and I too worked around. The. Clock. Going in early, staying late, going in to work on the weekends. Never allowing myself to turn off my work brain, because I was never caught up. I worked at an unsustainable pace for over 3 years, and developed severe anxiety and depression. I had to figure out how to let some things go, or I was going to burn out to the point of no return. Fortunately I do feel I've learned to balance work and life so much better now, but I regret the way I let teaching take over my life and mental health for so long.
I’m happy for you that you left your old environment. I’ve always said that if I did not have supportive administration or a pleasant team of colleagues, I wouldn’t do this. Looking back, it’s hard to believe we did what we did. If I’d have taken that work ethic to another profession, I might be a millionaire 😂
"...you can point to the right answer and they'll still get it wrong.": truer words have never been spoken since my social studies & Eng courses which are at an adult school do just reading and writing tests which have the answers in the reading so I guide students to the paragraph or sentence that has the answer and some students still write the wrong answer in their essay. And so true about not talking to much, luckily I was taught that right away in my program and made it my mission to always talk concisely and to the point which I've done since day one and will always do. Notably, I've had some students mention they like that since they have teachers who talk too much. Stations do annoy me when they just copy what other teachers do and my school does that when the stations clearly don't work for the students' dynamics so great advice to actually figure out learners' dynamics and adapt to that not trends or lesson plans that weren't actually written for my pupils.
"I wish I could go back to 2014 and just... give myself a hug." I relate to that statement so much. My first year was 2016 and I too worked around. The. Clock. Going in early, staying late, going in to work on the weekends. Never allowing myself to turn off my work brain, because I was never caught up. I worked at an unsustainable pace for over 3 years, and developed severe anxiety and depression. I had to figure out how to let some things go, or I was going to burn out to the point of no return. Fortunately I do feel I've learned to balance work and life so much better now, but I regret the way I let teaching take over my life and mental health for so long.
I’m happy for you that you left your old environment. I’ve always said that if I did not have supportive administration or a pleasant team of colleagues, I wouldn’t do this. Looking back, it’s hard to believe we did what we did. If I’d have taken that work ethic to another profession, I might be a millionaire 😂
Totally!! I still get caught!
"...you can point to the right answer and they'll still get it wrong.": truer words have never been spoken since my social studies & Eng courses which are at an adult school do just reading and writing tests which have the answers in the reading so I guide students to the paragraph or sentence that has the answer and some students still write the wrong answer in their essay.
And so true about not talking to much, luckily I was taught that right away in my program and made it my mission to always talk concisely and to the point which I've done since day one and will always do. Notably, I've had some students mention they like that since they have teachers who talk too much.
Stations do annoy me when they just copy what other teachers do and my school does that when the stations clearly don't work for the students' dynamics so great advice to actually figure out learners' dynamics and adapt to that not trends or lesson plans that weren't actually written for my pupils.
🤣