About a year ago I participated in a Twitter Chat where the topic was related to school administration. As expected, there were comments that read "administrators should do paperwork before or after school and spend all day visiting classrooms, being visible, etc. etc." Well I agree AND disagree. I am a mom of two boys (young men) and most of my before school time and after school time is dedicated to them. Does that make be a bad/poor administrator if I choose to use my out of work time for my children? Nope!
In fact the chat was just before Mother's Day 2014 so it seemed especially fitting at the time to write a post about balancing motherhood with educational leadership.
Without recreating the enitre post (which I deleted but luckily saved a word document draft), I just wanted to remind myself..and you if you are reading this...of the following:
...to all of the supermoms out there that are also school administrators, it's ok to carve out some time in your school say to actually do administrative work. Unlike teachers, we do not have an uninterrupted lunch hour or scheduled preparation time built into our work day. So, don't feel guilty spending about 25% of your day in your office. Yes, we have to connect with our students, be visible, lead learners, creative and caring leaders, teacher of teachers, etc., etc., but we also have to write reports, make phone calls, complete observations, and sometimes just take a minute to eat, relax and recharge. Because when our school day is over we have to be moms and just like we have to "be there" for our students and teachers, we have to "be there" for our own children....and sometimes that means staying in your office during school hours and signing off at the end of the day.
PS - This message applies to all administrators - those that are dads and those that do not have children outside of their school/family children. Do what works best for you and know that there is no one way to be a successful administrator. Success is being happy knowing that each day you strive to do the best for yourself, your family and your school community. What works best for each one of us will greatly depend on the size of your building, your support team in the building, your support team at home and the level of responsibility you have outside of school.
In fact the chat was just before Mother's Day 2014 so it seemed especially fitting at the time to write a post about balancing motherhood with educational leadership.
Without recreating the enitre post (which I deleted but luckily saved a word document draft), I just wanted to remind myself..and you if you are reading this...of the following:
...to all of the supermoms out there that are also school administrators, it's ok to carve out some time in your school say to actually do administrative work. Unlike teachers, we do not have an uninterrupted lunch hour or scheduled preparation time built into our work day. So, don't feel guilty spending about 25% of your day in your office. Yes, we have to connect with our students, be visible, lead learners, creative and caring leaders, teacher of teachers, etc., etc., but we also have to write reports, make phone calls, complete observations, and sometimes just take a minute to eat, relax and recharge. Because when our school day is over we have to be moms and just like we have to "be there" for our students and teachers, we have to "be there" for our own children....and sometimes that means staying in your office during school hours and signing off at the end of the day.
PS - This message applies to all administrators - those that are dads and those that do not have children outside of their school/family children. Do what works best for you and know that there is no one way to be a successful administrator. Success is being happy knowing that each day you strive to do the best for yourself, your family and your school community. What works best for each one of us will greatly depend on the size of your building, your support team in the building, your support team at home and the level of responsibility you have outside of school.
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