Is doing teacher work at home a smart thing to do?
Is doing teacher work at home a smart thing to do?
So the last week of school before the holidays, the assistant principal came up to me and said, Mr. Collins, if you would be willing to work after school a couple of days, I've got approval to get you paid so that you can enter grades. And I said, I don't want to do that. Did I burn my bridge?
Unknown:Guys,
Greg:I bet you cringe when you read the title of the episode today is the best thing to do in 2022. This is January second 2022. Do we need to work from home? Or do we need to take extra step of home? All right, hear me out? Here's where I'm coming from. Let's back up. First of all, I said that line at the beginning of the show on purpose. Was it true? Yes. Was it totally true? Well, no, it wasn't. Here's what happened. They knew I knew the grading system, they knew that this was the my last week substituting for that long term role, because they had the position filled now. They knew that they needed to get in the final grade of the nine weeks, the final exam grade, and then the final grade from August through December, all of that had to be loaded. And you know it, it could have been loaded over the holidays. But who wants to do that? So the assistant principal came up and told me she said, I got approval from the principal, to pay you overtime rates. If you'll stick around after school, and enter those grades for us. And I said, Listen, I'm going to do them at home, you don't have to pay me anything. I'm going to do them at home. Here's why. You need to get to that situation. I'm going to describe teachers first. I come across teachers all the time and substitute teachers to who tell me constantly. Well, let me back up a little bit first, they'll come in in the morning, and tried to get through all their emails and all the stuff they need to do. And they don't make it. And they go through the whole day complaining about how they're behind it. They're one of the ones that walked fast in the hallway, like we talked about last week, to make everybody think they're on top of things. But they keep complaining and they keep complaining, they can't get it done. They miss important emails, maybe they miss emails about free food at lunch in a certain location. And they hate that, that they didn't see that email before they need it too. So here they are coming in, can't catch up with their emails. At the same time, I've asked them, or maybe they volunteer the information, they will say things like, I give so much time to this school. I am not going to work one iota when I get home. Well, I understand that argument. But here's what happens. You don't even check your email because it's just so against what you believe in. I'm going to check them when I'm in the school building within the school hours, then what happens? You can't get them all called up. You get behind all day you complain about the things you missed. And it's just a big cycle that keeps going over and over. Now, here's what I suggest you do. Here's what I do. I keep my email notifications turned on on my school account. I might come home and walk. I might be standing on the referee stand during a timeout and see an email pop up on my watch by the way fellow referees don't tell me because I know we're not really supposed to check things while we're refering but I might glance down at my smartwatch see that I got an email from the school see the topic and know that I have to look at it sometime that evening. Okay, I've got all the gadgets going on. I've got everything that I need to catch up with everything. After hours. Why do I do it after hours? Because it makes my life easier. Here's what the exact words I told that assistant principal I said, you know, I don't want you to pay me and honestly rather be setting home free with a football game on the television that I'm watching with my laptop while I'm entering grades, do I stop entering grades when the game gets exciting, you better believe it. But by the time the end the the end of the night comes, do I have those grades loaded? You better believe it. Now, how much more relaxed? Could that be watching a football game? And I just happen to be doing on the side to keep up some schoolwork. I am not inconveniencing myself in the lease, to doing it that way. My email is the same way. I not only look at my email, while I'm at home, watching a ballgame. But I answer it because there might actually be some things through my answer that I can get started. And I don't have to worry about it when I go in the next day. So cast aside 2021. If the thing one of the things you did back then was to say I am never going to work for the school at all, when I get home. That's old hat, man. That's not going to get you anywhere. In fact, it will get you in a situation where you were constantly being frustrated. So here's my recommendations to you. Look at your email while you're home, answered if you can, and it's convenient. Answer it during halftime of a football game, answering it during one of your favorite TV shows during a movie on Netflix, pause it, send out that answer, it's probably going to take you 30 seconds, and you've got that head start on the next day. And you don't have to worry about it anymore. You don't see 25 emails, only five of which you really have to pay attention to you don't see those when you go in the next day. You see them as they hit your phone and you can take care of them right then and there. And you can do so while you're doing something fun. It's just something casually you're doing. Do you stop playing with your kids? Now? I would I would finish that. But at least you've got that bug in your head. Now you know, there's an email waiting for you. Take those couple of extra minutes before you go to bed. answer those. Be ready for your next morning. Same way with with the answer I gave to the principle I'm making it convenient. I enjoy just having my laptop on my computer. I might be planning a vacation. I might be watching a football game, I might be playing a game of some type on my phone. And that email pops up. I can answer it quickly. And I'm done with all that. Get away from this stuff that you're just too stubborn to do anything from home. I've been told this. I've had my laptop sitting in my lap from time to time in the evening for hours. Is it all school? Oh, it's not. Sometimes I'm playing a fantasy sport. Sometimes I'm, again, playing some type of game maybe planning a podcast, something like that. But then I might also being some of the schoolwork. Is it because they told me I needed to do that. It's not it's because I chose to do that. I chose to prepare that Kahoot that just might push the point forward better when I get into the classroom the next day since I know my topic. I might be able to automate some things. It's going to make my next day go better. I might be able to do that during timeouts and half time. That's a perfect way to get my my day ready for the next day. I have told other teachers I do that and some of them understand and do the same thing. Some of them will say nope, that's my time. I'm not going to do that on my time. Well yeah, it's my time to that's why I'm watching a football game. But I've got a set of fingers. I can do some work while I'm you know, between touchdowns. I did some work on my phone while I was watching went to the bingos and ravens game last Sunday. And I did some work while I was on my phone during the ballgame, because I knew getting that piece taken care of. I would be that much ahead of getting those grades in by a deadline. So it was basically pounding out an answer to a parent. And boy that that's another reason to do it. If the email involves getting involved with a, a student's grades or explain some things to the parent, show them that you'll do it quickly. Don't wait till the next morning, do it now that shows them that you appreciate their time. And you don't mind that 45 seconds to 60 seconds inconvenience that it's going to take you to send a message back to them. Let me tell you what some of the teachers have told me in response to this. If you'll recall, this past year, I started long term for a teacher in the biomedical field in August through its middle of September. And here's what she did for me. First of all, you've heard me say in podcast before, one of the most organized teachers I've ever taught for, but you know what she did, when she found out that I was not only doing this type of thing, but since I'm an early riser, and I would just be sitting around the home anyway, that I was getting there super early to make copies, beating everybody to the copy machine. That was kind of extra time to, but I knew it would save my frustration because I wouldn't have to wait for the backup. I'm going to tell you now, there's times when I would leave at the end of my church service on a Sunday, run by the school because I knew there was nobody there to get in my way knocked off my copies for a week, maybe even two weeks, given the situation. Because it was a convenient time to do so. Probably only took me 30 minutes. And then I would go home knowing that my week was going to go that much more smoothly. Because I inconvenience myself for 30 minutes. So this particular teacher, when she found out I was doing that, she made sure that she got her part of the lesson plans sent to me in time for me to do as he was talking to send her lesson plans to me, sometimes two weeks ahead of time, because she knew I like to work ahead. And that's just the way I was. So start planning in 2022. To make it your least frustrating year you can now if you want to be stubborn, and continue to say I'm not going to work one iota when I'm home. Well, that's your choice. If you instead choose to say, I'm going to knock off a few emails while I'm sitting in front of the television, I'm going to knock all some reports that I can file while I'm listening to some music. Yeah, it's my time. But I'm really spending my time doing what I want to do with my time. Now I'll admit, I'm in my 60s. Now both me and my wife are retired. We've got a couple of vacations planned for this year, we're looking forward to that. And that does make it a little bit different because we don't have any kids at home to deal with we we hang out with the grandkids quite often. But I understand that. But the thing you need to think about is when you're just sitting there doing nothing, maybe watching the show watching a ballgame. At least knock off what you can conveniently knock off those emails. Get yourself ready so that you can show up closer to start time the next morning. But yet be prepared to know that you've taken care of things already and you don't have to catch up with things when you get there. And for that matter, even though you're not getting paid overtime to do that it will pay off for you. Because other teachers, your boss, the administrators are going to see how organized you are all the time, how you don't seem frazzled, how you seem on top of things, I shouldn't even use the word seem because you are on top of things. The very fact that you might have spent 30 minutes the night before taking care of some emails get you organized to the point that you are good to go that next day. Just doing that Kahoot just working on that lesson plan on your own time on your couch while you're also doing something else fun or watching something else fun gets you to the point that is going to pay off in the long run. You're going to be appreciate it more you're going to be more organized and to the point that you can help those students better when they have a question. So guys 2021 is over. Get that attitude behind you that I'm too stubborn. I'm not going to do anything at home after I get home. Well There's some things, some simpler things that you can do that night while you're in a convenient situation that will make your week run much more smoothly. So, as we enter into 22, make it a good one. Get out of that old grind, get out of that stubborn attitude, do what you can, to be able to handle those students in such a way that their education will be better, you won't seem frazzled, you won't see frustrated, you know, if you are frustrated, you're going to bless it those kids a little bit more than maybe you wouldn't have if you're on top of things, just shift into organization mode. And one of the ways you can do that is spend a little time at home to get yourself organized each night. Alright, so happy 2022 It's going to be a great year. You know, I said this at the end of 2020 as well, I sure wish we don't have to wear these match much longer. Right now. We've got cases going back up again. So let's just hope that we get through all that and 2021 I want everybody to stay healthy. And I hope we all have a good year together.