Picture this:
A clown juggling 6 balls, a chimpanzee going 'ape' in his cage at the zoo, the Kracken on Pirates of the Caribbean.
On any given day I feel like these characters. I feel like I need as many arms as the Kracken. I feel like I need limbs and a tail like the wild chimp flying through the rope course at the zoo. And, I usually feel like a clown, sometimes a clown that juggles. This is my life as an Elementary principal.
Please know: this post is not me complaining about my job. When I agreed to the position, I knew exactly what I was getting into and I had come to the conclusion a long time ago that I was insane. So why not take the job?
The purpose of this post is I NEED HELP! I need help juggling all of my hats. My days are crazy as yours are too, I'm sure. Yesterday I had 25 evaluations that I had to complete, meet with staff and get over to CO. I had a student have his daily ED freak out (who needs an exercise regime when you have an ED room in your building?) I had parent phone calls, parent visits, staff complaints, and this was all before lunch.
My doctor doesn't recommend drinking. It goes against my moral code (yes, I do have one) to take drugs. My husband would prefer that I not work 20 hours per day. I have come to the conclusion that I need one of those gizmos that Hermione had in Harry Potter 3 - you know, the one that allows her to be in 12 places at one time. Has this been patented yet?
Can anyone help? Until I find the answer I suppose I'll continue to get up everyday and just do the best I can. I will remind myself to prioritize and save my paperwork for after hours. I will hope that it is true that as you get older you need less sleep...............
Until next time!
I have no answers to this, because I'm in the same boat. I had the same crazy day yesterday where I wished there was alcohol at home and told my husband I think I needed a mood stabilizer (but, like you I don't drink and don't like meds). I think one of the most frustrating things is that staff don't realize what our job entails (because I don't want to complain to them) and that I can't fix all of their problems or keep up with all of the requests...leaving someone to think I'm not doing my job or purposely not following through with something.
ReplyDelete~PrincipalJ
I totally understand what you are dealing with, although I am not administration. You are "on" all day and then have to come home and start a whole other full time job of being wife &/or mother &/or friend.
ReplyDeleteIf I can put my hands on my magic wand, I'll be sure to wave it your way. Other than that, promise me one thing. You'll spend AT LEAST one night per week work-free (except of course what you do on Twitter) :) You need it!
Thanks for this great post.
I could have written this myself!! I completely understand and I have been and continue to be there. One thing I can offer after serving at various levels of administration is this: take a day off on occasion, and do not feel guilty about it. You will need this for physical, emotional, and mental refreshment. It helps to even take a day to "work from home". You can catch up on emails, prioritize (without sprinting to the ED room), do some planning, and even consider how to delegate several tasks. Take a walk, drink a cup of tea or coffee, read some feeds on the latest in education. You need time to simply think and reflect. As one very wise professor told me, "thinking and reflection" are part of the job of an administrator, but often the demands of the day crowd out our ability to preserve time to do either. Take the time, and don't feel guilty about it. The day will go on, teaching and learning will occur, and crisis will be managed or handled by your staff. If you want to continue to be effective in your role, make the occasional day-long or half-day retreat part of your regimen. It helps immensely!
ReplyDelete