balance

Today we are having a gathering of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) that are teaching in Gallup as a part of the Peace Corps Fellows (PCF) program at Western New Mexico University (WNMU). At the beginning of the school year we all come together to meet the new fellows, to talk about teaching, and to mentally prepare ourselves for the school year that is to come. This year I have volunteered to talk to my fellow teachers about balance.

Balance has been an important component of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up as an honor's student, a student athlete, and a dancer (all of my own choosing, no helicopter parents here). All of this meant that I had to carefully budget my time. In high school this had me doing homework in the time between the end of school and the start of practice (soccer, cheerleading, tennis, swimming, and a couple of times theater). I fully utilized any study hall periods that I had and hit the books as soon as the final bell rang to ensure that I would have all of my work completed for the next day of school. Once practice started I was engaged with my friends as we ran, stretched, and completed any number of crazy drills. Once practice was over my mom picked me up and faithfully drove me to my hour and a half long dance class 30 minutes away. This was my life. As you can see, balance was key.

I may not have thought much then about how this practice was a valuable life skill to have, but now it is what keeps me sane. I have years of experience with juggling tight schedules and meeting deadlines while being pulled in a million different directions (again, all of my own choosing), and it suits me. I plan everything so that I can make it all work because I am stubborn and do not want to give any of the pieces up. So, as an adult what does this crazy schedule of mine actually look like?

My days during the school year are pretty full. Building off of yesterday's mental meanderings about teaching for time off, I do not have time off. I am a teacher. I am a grad student. I am a human that has personal interests. As I mentioned earlier, I do not want to give any of those things up. They are all a part of who I am. I wake up at 4:30 in the morning so that I can workout and still get into my classroom about an hour before it is required. I need to work out so that I have the patience and energy (yes, I am energized by working out) to keep up with my kinders all day long. I need to get to my classroom early because it gives me peace of mind to know that everything is in its place and all of the materials that I need to keep the day running smoothly are in place. I need those three hours before the school day begins to make sure that I can be ready to greet my kiddos as the enter the classroom and let them know that I am excited to see them and to learn with them.

As a kindergarten teacher I never stop moving. From 7:30AM until approximately 3:00PM I am with my students (yes, I have a couple of breaks here and there, but I am always thinking about what we have done and what we have yet to do before the final bell rings). I run around trying to meet all of their needs, I read stories in funny voices, I dance and sing with them during wiggle breaks (or just when teaching in general), I demonstrate how to write letters and/or numbers over and over again, I tie approximately a million shoes a day (something that I am hoping to eliminate this year), I hand out tissues for runny noses, I remind kiddos to flush the toilet, I pick up the random learning tools that have rolled into corners, sharpen pencils, and help students develop fine motor skills through cutting, building, and creating. Every one of those activities needs to be built into my schedule so that I can show the powers that be that I am actively engaging my students in an attempt to meet the standards and the individual needs of each student that I interact with during those seven and a half hours.

Once my students leave my time in the classroom does not come to an end. I work on lesson plans and prepare materials for the coming day. This is a huge part of how I balance my life. Last year I managed to create an after school schedule that helped me to pinpoint the important components of lesson planning (standard identification, how that standard will be assessed, how I will make sure my students learn the skills to pass the assessment of said standard, copying and/or creating resources to be used to help students develop those skills) and assigned one component to each day of the week. By scheduling these specific activities I was able to have my lesson plans done and my materials ready for the coming week by Friday afternoon at 5PM. I learned that I could walk away from my classroom on Friday and feel that I did not need to work (on teaching stuff) over the weekend. I also rarely stayed at school past 5:00 (sure that makes nearly an 11 hour day, but this is how I found my balance).

Two nights a week my day does not end when I leave my classroom. Instead I go to grad school where I sit and learn more about the components of education that can make my teaching experience better for both myself and my students. From 5PM until 9PM I sit and absorb whatever it is that I can take into my classroom and improve my practice. On the nights that I do not have class I typically have assignments to complete. This is the work that will often be carried over into the weekends because I do have a life outside of teaching and school. This is where I can nurture the parts of me that are devoted to my family and myself.

I think that the true nature of balance is finding time for yourself. I love to dive into crafting as time allows. I try to make a point of not buying gifts for my beautiful nieces and other family members, instead I try to knit or crochet most of them (this year I may try to ease myself into sewing as well). I love to eat delicious food with my mister and relax in front of the TV with something from our Netflix queue. I like to make occasional trips to the pool, to go running, and to inhale as much of nature's beauty as I can while hiking and/or climbing. I love to read, and to write. I enjoy getting together with friends for game nights and pot lucks. I like to go out and sample the fabulous restaurants in town. I love going to Gallup's monthly Arts Crawl downtown and hanging out with friends while listening to good music and seeing people's creations. These are things that make me complete as an individual and so I squeeze them in as often as possible.

My life is all about balance, about nurturing all of the unique components that come together to make me me. In order to be the teacher, student, and individual that I want to be, this is how I find balance.

And I still manage to go to bed by 8:30 most nights!