Sometimes, Less is More.

My first year of teaching was rife with jam packed days, long days, starting something, restarting something, paperwork, lesson planning, creating materials and on and on. It was way more than what I expected and in the first few weeks I remember fighting off several migraines from the stress. Teaching was not what I thought it would be. What I was doing was just not sustainable. I stumbled into Thanksgiving break already worn out and gasping for air. I shared some of my frustration with a more experienced teacher who was in the same role as I was a grade above me.

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He shared that in his 20+ years of teaching he couldn't remember a moment in the first few months of each year where he wasn't overwhelmed with the work that needed to be done. Here was an experienced teacher, a well-oiled machine in education, admitting to being whelmed all these years later. Again, teaching was not what I thought it would be. He offered some more encouraging words and more or less told me to stop creating my own materials or in teacher-speak "stop reinventing the wheel" - take from others and tweak it for your class.

Source: Creative Commons

Soon after that I saw my "clock-out" time from school creep up. (I actually started to leave the building before the sun went down on some days!) Of course, some are longer than others still 7 years later, but the efficiency and strain I put on myself in those first few months of teaching are gone allowing me to focus on other areas like classroom management, reflecting, collaborating and other school activities. Sometimes, doing less allows you to do more for your students.