The Well-Balanced Teacher: Smart Strategies for Classroom Success & Work-Life Balance | Essential Guide for Educators, New Teachers & School Professionals

I am a fourth year teacher who endured three years of total unbalance. Between administrators who wanted and expected different things, changes in expectations for daily teaching, and the inexperience that comes with being a new teacher, I really felt that putting my own life and needs on hold was the only way that I would ever be a successful teacher. I didn't understand how teachers could come in at 7:40 and leave at 3:20 every day yet STILL be ready to teach each morning! I resented them and felt myself becoming a martyr. I started at a new school this year, and fell back into the old habits of getting in before the custodian and leaving after him, taking on too many responsibilities, and giving too much of myself to the families of my students after hours by making myself available via email at all hours. As an example of how all this affects my life, I signed up and started training for a half marathon over the summer. When the time rolled around to actually RUN the half, I had already stopped training to make more time to work, and decided I couldn't go to the race, even as a cheerleader for my friends who WERE running it, because I had too much work to get done.My mom, who has watched me struggle with severe anxiety because of toxic workplaces, bought this book for me when I mentioned I wanted to get it next payday. One of my New Year's Resolutions in 2011 is to get some balance in my life. I miss reading books that are for ME and not about kids and teaching. I miss running. I miss going to yoga. And most of all, I miss being able to say YES to things I really want to do like go to dinner with my boyfriend.I received this book on January 3, which happened to be a teacher professional development day. I started reading it in between conferences with parents on Tuesday and finished it Saturday afternoon. Initially I thought it'd be a book that tells you all the things you KNOW you should be doing but with no suggestions on HOW to do them. Being able to read the snapshots of other teachers JUST LIKE ME who feel the same way I do and were doing the same things I do was SO amazing. It's proof that balance CAN be achieved. Or at least more balance than we currently have! Mike Anderson helped me to see that there aren't ever going to be enough hours in the day to do everything--prioritizing is key, and some things will just have to be let go. The metaphor he uses in the beginning of the book about how, when we get on an airplane, the attendants tell us that in the event of an emergency we should put on our own oxygen mask FIRST and then help others really resonated with me. How can I be a the great teacher I know I am deep in my heart if I don't take care of me first?Will I get balance today? No. It's a journey--just like learning is. I need to LEARN to say no. I need to LEARN to put me first. And I need to LEARN to prioritize things in my work-life to make room for me in my life-life.Seriously, fellow teachers, get yourself, your teacher friends, your families a copy of this book--you can all remind each other of what you need to be doing to find that balance that we yearn for every night when we stare at the school bag full of things we brought home because we felt they needed to get done that night. Go through that bag--pull out what is really important to look at, and set the rest aside. Take a few minutes every day to read through what Mike has to share. It will be so worth it.