7am - 11pm

Talk about a long day, I get to the school around 7 in the morning, and usually I leave around 4 in the evening. For those of you that are unfamiliar it is maple season, that means longer hours, because of boiling the sap to make the syrup. Maple syrup is a huge thing in this part of the state.

I learned that there are students that are actually willing to stay late and help boil the syrup. Once you start boiling you can’t stop until all the sap is boiled. It is really amazing to see all of the community members step up with not only help, but with advice as well.  Yes the 7 to 11 was hard, but it was super fun and I learned a whole lot about maple production.

My question this week is : how long is too long to stay after school and work on school stuff? How do you set your limit?

Comments

  1. Becky HaddadMarch 2, 2020 at 12:19 PM

    I'm with Dr. Curry on this one! One, work-life balance doesn't look the same for everyone. Heck, it doesn't even look the same for an individual across their career! Two, hard and fast rules about leave time are inevitably violated (as Dr. Curry said). I'm not fundamentally opposed to setting leave times, as long as you're able to give yourself some grace (i.e. if it's your boundary to leave by 4:00 every day so you can enforce it with your students, great. But don't beat yourself up if it doesn't happen every day). Instead, hold yourself accountable to a time-for-time habit. Instead of saying, "I'm going to leave school by 4:00 every day," remind yourself to make extra time on your calendar to "balance" the time.

    For example: If you're putting in extra hours now, think about where you can "take" those hours back. Obviously once time is gone, it's gone. We need to have clear boundaries about how we're going to spend it. One ag teacher I workshopped with put it this way: "For every hour I put on the calendar for work, something else goes on the calendar for my family. If I'm gone late for an FFA event, I specifically block equal time to do something else we enjoy. This holds me accountable to my own time (so I don't continue scheduling over myself)." Regardless of the boundary you establish (leave time, equal time, etc.), set something that is maintainable and sustainable for YOU.

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