Finding balance

I have been a Middle School principal for 3 years now and I still struggle with finding balance between work and my personal life.  I love my job, but it can't be the only thing that defines me.  I love to work hard and play hard, because being a principal is not the only thing that defines me.  With the demands the world places on educators, finding balance is a challenge.

I have tired many things to help me create a balance between work and personal life.  I am a planner, so I write workout times, lunch dates, etc into my calendar.  Sometimes, this doesn't work for me.  I want to do my best and I struggle with leaving my desk with work still to be done.  I also struggle with taking me time.  There are times we need a break, whether it is a mental health day or you are truly sick. I am one of those people who drag themselves to work even when they are dying.  I need to remember that the school will run without me there.

Some tips that have worked for me (but if you have some, please share):    I started bring my exercise clothes to work to change before I leave, hoping I get to the gym.  I schedule my "Mental health" afternoons in advance so that I know the school is covered.  I try not to say no when colleagues ask me to go out for drinks, we need this connection with others.  I don't take work home, it will be there the next day. Plus, at home is where I do most of my PLN work for me.  My home time is about me and my loved ones.  The weekends (mostly) are my time.  I don't check email (except for Sunday nights so I am not surprised on a Monday) and I do my thing with my family and friends.

I wish someone had a magic spell to help me with this answer.  How do other principals handle this?  My County office of ed is starting a Middle School Principal breakfast 4 times a year.  I hope that one of the topics we discuss others do this.  I know there is a way.

The Pearl of wisdom for the post, laugh every day at work.  Nope, no tech tip this time.  Just enjoy life and smile.

My compass was needed this week...

I have been writing this post since Monday and it has been all over the map.  I have need a compass to make it through this week and to help guide my thinking.  It started on Monday with the "education high" I was on after finishing my class at Sonoma State.  Eight principals from the district are take a seminar class together and it has been great.  Not only have the content inspired me, I have been able to get to know the other principals better. One of the outcomes I have had from this class is organizing inspiring guest speakers and trainers for our district's two upcoming Common Core trainings for secondary.  However, as I was leaving the class on Monday, I was in need of my compass to direct me and refocus me.

My Asst. Sup. texted me that the Common Core planning committee went a different direction on Monday and did not want the guest speakers.  I was crushed at first, I wanted them for myself.  They are fabulous presenters.  Besides my personal feelings, I knew they have a message that the teachers and secondary admin, in my district, needed to hear.  My friend quickly grabbed my compass and came to my defense.  She called the Asst. Sup as we were walking to the car.  I was lost in my own thoughts at this point in time and decided to just drive home to think.  After getting home, my friend called my with an update on her talk with the Asst. Sup. After taking in all this information, I realized that many of the people planning this day don't fully understand the common core.  This just reaffirmed my thoughts that the guest speakers were needed even more so than before.  I needed to grab my compass and help lead the way again.

On Tuesday, I went and found staff members who were attending the Thursday planning meeting and I  lobbied for what I wanted.  I talked to my colleagues who I knew would agree with me and lobbied them. Finally, around 4pm, my compass lead me to my Asst. Sup's office and we had a great talk.  She understood my points and also helped me to see where I needed to reflect on my own practice to continue to improve.  I left her office knowing the speakers are back on and that my compass had not been pointed in the wrong direction, it just took me on a side trip.

To me, the issues wasn't just about getting to see great speakers (and they are great speakers).  It is about the need to educate ourselves and help others to see where they need to grow.  The workshops that were being planned were not going to accomplish this

The best reward for my struggles this week was a text that my friend.  She sent to me the picture to the left.  It is of the brainstorming from the CCSS committee she ran today created while discussing next steps in Common Core implementation.  The picture speaks for itself!  The bottom bullet made me feel validated.  Way to go compass!

The pearl of wisdom for this post: Change is hard.  Common Core is forcing us to change the way we do things.  We can roll with it or be the wall the tries to stop it.  I like to roll...compass continue to guide me.

Take time to smell the roses...

Sometimes we forgot in education to open our doors and let people in.  We get so wrapped up in what we need to get done and shorting our "todo lists" that that the world passes us by.  The Elementary Principals in my district have been the example for me of what a good admin team can look like.  They get together, accomplish big goals and have fun.  Those of us in secondary have not "played nicely" like the Elementary Principals.  This changed tonight.

We have a new admin team at the middle school level in the district.  I am the "veteran"(not old)

principal now.  We hired two new principals this school year and they are fabulous.  They are full of ideas, are funny, and care about making a difference.  They also want to collaborate (thank god!) with other Middle School principals and other schools in the district.  Tonight we met at a local brewery and talked for over 2 hours.  We invited our Assistant Principals to join us and it was great.  So many ideas and thoughts came up.  We also got to know each other better.  We told stories, reflected on kids and policies.  What a great time!

As I reflect on, build on my PLN and take personal PD journey, I need to remember to include face-to-face time with my colleagues.  It is so good just to hear that you are on the right track and that others agree.  It is also great to hear other viewpoints and ideas.  We decided to make this a monthly meetings and one member has sent out google invites for the next 3 months to us.  This was a great remember to "take time to smell the roses."

I want to include a "Pearl of wisdom" every post.  I don't know if anyone is reading this, but at least I can go back and reference it in the future.  This blog is suppose to be for my growth, and if others benefit, that is even better.  Here is my Pearl of Wisdom for the day:  follow Richard Byrnes on Twitter, @rmbyrne.  His posts have great resources to share with staff and are full of short bits of information.

It's almost Friday......

Pearl(s) of wisdom

I hated writing as a child.  I was one of those children who would read everything they could, but I threw tantrums when it came to writing anything.  I remember full-on crying fits with my mother sitting there, waiting for me to get tired, and helping me through it.  To this day, I dislike to write.  The fear of writing and being judge for my grammar, sentence structure, etc (I was a science and math teacher people!) is overwhelming but I can't let it stop me.   So, why is this "hater of writing" doing a blog? I blame Kristen Swanson.

I have been reading her book, Professional Learning in the Digital Age, and it is inspiring. I have been feeling lost about my personal PD and how to get my secondary admin team on board to do anything. Kristen spends the first chapter talking about the cycle of professional learning (User Generated Learning) in today's digital world.  The cycle is (paraphrased by me) gathering information, reflecting, and applying.  I realized after reading Chapter 1, I am really good at gathering information.  I love twitter! I would say I am addicted at times.  I love reading blogs, books and articles (I am sure this is shocking from the girl who just said she loves to read).  But, I was skipping step two, reflection, and moving on to step 3, implementation. I am great at reflecting orally with friends, colleagues, etc.  However, after reading the first part of her book, I realized my reflection needed it to be more formal.   So here is my formal attempt on reflection.  Let's hope I can keep it up.

On page 4, Kristen references a website to help you organize all the resources you find on twitter (and yes, I am past page 4) called pearltrees (www.pearltrees.com) .  This is your #pearlofwidsom for the post.  You have to get a pearltrees.  To the right is a start of my pearltree.  I used to mail myself tweets that I found interesting.  Then my inbox was full of emails from myself of things.  I have a little OCD about my inbox, so then I created a folder for emailed tweets. This site is cleaning up my inbox and folders big time.  There is even a chrome extension to allow you to post to your pearltrees without leaving the blog/page you are on.  It makes my twitter so much more organized.  This OCD girl is happy!

My last taken away from chapter 1 of this book is a quote.  "Learning with technology is more important that learning about technology."  We have to remember that tech is there to help us, not be the reason we don't use it.