From Teacher to Administrator

I have been an administrator now for about two years. Before that I taught for 18 years. It has been a difficult switch, to say the least because I desperately miss being in the classroom. But I am thankful that I get to work with leaders and teachers who love children and want to improve each and every day.

Being an administrator is hard. Very hard. You have to make hard decisions that affect people's lives. You have to make hard decisions that affect students' lives. It is hard. One of the hardest parts of my job is finding resolutions to conflicts between colleagues. Sometimes teachers will have different opinions about an issue or maybe they are having a bad day. In some cases, my colleagues may disagree with teach other philosophically and because we are all so invested in education, sometimes we get offended or take things too personally. Add on top of that, add the fatigue of this time of year and a growing virus threat and you have a recipe for disaster.

There are parts of my job that are extremely rewarding. Like judging a STEAM fair and seeing the excitement of engineering at work. Choosing winners and listening to kids who are so excited to tell you about their creation is just thrilling. It is rewarding. Their hard work (and their teacher's hard work) materialized in just two or three minutes. This renews my passion and reminds me why I went into teaching. It often makes  feeds my underlying hunger to go back into the classroom.

This one was a neat idea to use as a review game in the classroom.

This one won third place.

Balance is really hard as an administrator because of all of the people that demand your time. During lunchtime, I try to read and catch up on a few blogs. While I was reading, I came across this infographic that discusses how to focus in the age of distraction. Obviously I have to answer emails and messages, but could I focus more in order to get more things done?

Credit: https://historytech.wordpress.com/2020/02/21/7-tools-that-can-help-your-kids-work-and-think-distraction-free-feel-free-to-jump-on-these-yourself/

 One of my sweet coworkers recently asked me, "How do you have time for a life?"

I replied, "I don't know."

But I really do try to compartmentalize my life. I try to enjoy my weekends. I cherish time with my partner. I take time to exercise, sleep, and try to eat right. I travel as often as possible. Those are supposed to be the keys to balance. Right?