Managable Goals (or... "Stop the burnout.")

-This post brought to you by a really bad day-

Everyone expects teachers to always be positive, upbeat, and helpful to all of the children that come into their lives.

Remember back when teaching was about conveying learning to pupils? I sure don't. Teachers these days are expected to be surrogate parents, nurses, and therapists for all of their students. I went into this profession because I wanted to do something that mattered. As it turns out, doing something that matters takes a lot of snuff.

I feel like a misreable git most days because I can't seem to keep up with the demands in my life.

So, in light of the last post: here are my goals... for good or ill.

1. Do not take work home with me
2. Plan in advance (lesson planning)
   
3. Set reasonable classroom goals, and to hell with the district on this one... I can't teach everything they want me to teach
   
4. Do not stay more than 1 hour after school each day... no matter what
5. Remember that this is a JOB - granted one that I like - and that my MAIN GOAL is the health and well being of my family
   
6. If all else fails - see goal #5 and learn to live with what needs to be done to make my family healthy and safe
7. Have fun... with learning and getting to know the kids
   

Those are my new and improved reasonable goals. Let's see how this works.