Work life balance, good or does it require improvement?

As there a lot of discussion occurring about teachers' workload and work life balance I felt it an important issue to blog about. I have many friends who don't work in teaching and take great pleasure in joking about the amount of holidays I get and the 9am start, 3pm finish they think I follow. As a keen teacher and subject leader I can assure that this is not the case and after a full weekend of marking, planning and university lectures (as a part of my masters studying) I certainly wish it was. My aim in this post however, is not to argue in the defence of teachers and the amount of hours they put in, but to try and find solutions to the on going work life balance issue. I don't profess to have nailed this myself and quite often have to give myself a reality check, but I do think I've managed to pick up a few ideas on managing a heavy work load. 1. Prioritise- this may seem obvious but I always start my working day by attending to the tasks that need to be completed by the next day. That way I know I can at least be prepared with lessons plans, marking and any meeting requirements etc, for the next day, preventing a late night rush of working through tired eyes. After all, a late night leaves you shattered and unable to teach to your optimum the following day and also possible means the quality of work you produced will be compromised. 2. Plan your social activities first- by planning non-work related activities and then blocking in time to complete work in and around this ensures that you are gaining some much needed down time, where you can relax and recuperate. It also forces you to work efficiently ensuring that you finish that pile of marking in time to make the gym class/football match/dinner date. I've often been guilty of using an entire day to get through tasks that should only take a couple of hours, simply because I'd not got any plans, this then left me feeling as though I'd worked the whole of my Sunday. 3. Work smarter- books such as "The Lazy Teacher's Handbook" by Jim Smith, advocate working more smartly, for example not every piece of work needs to be marked by you, therefore take the time to train up your students to peer assess and get them to provide each other with feedback, it will aid and improve their progression whilst simultaneously reducing your work load. Devise and develop classroom activities that get them to do the hard work and you work mainly as a facilitator. Take the time early on to make phone calls home regarding positive/negative behaviour this will enable you to prove to your students that you have clear expectations and will prevent you from having a string of issues to chase up later. Invest more time in planning appropriately, creating engaging and personalised lessons, it may take up more time initially but it will prevent behaviour issues and hopefully improve progress and limit the amount of extra intervention you may need to implement later. Sometimes it's just about being creative in how you manage your work load, like I said, work smarter rather than harder. 4. Accept that your to do list is never ending- I have to write everything down that I need to do to ensure I don't miss anything. This used to frustrate me as an inexperienced teacher as I always felt I was never clearing my to do list, but adding to it as I crossed off tasks. I soon realised that the nature of teaching means that you will never clear it, once you've completed some marking, the students will produce work again, you plan your lessons, but straight way need to be preparing the next ones. It's an on going cycle and once you come to terms with this you accept that there will always be tasks that are waiting for you to complete, you'll learn to tell yourself to stop working and take a break. 5. Choose to have time to yourself-I aim to do something for myself at least one night a week, whether it be going to a dance class, going out for tea with my husband, painting my toe nails or watching Corrie without having the laptop on. It just ensures that I give myself a little bit of a reward or down time during the week, after all we work to live, not live to work. I also aim to not leave work on a Friday until I know I've sorted everything I need for Monday, that way if I really don't want to, I don't have to work over the weekend (this can really help ease the Sunday night blues). It actually usually means that I do work but I don't feel as resentful about doing it because I know I don't need to do it immediately. 6. Don't be afraid to say no- I am ambitious and conscientious which put me at risk of taking on too much when I was younger. Now having taught for 7 years and taken on leadership roles I've learnt to have the confidence to politely decline when I'm too busy to take something on, or to delegate and ask for help when needed. Obviously this has to be done appropriately and cannot be applied to all situations and scenarios but at the same time, if you are stretching yourself too thinly, you are not going to be able to maintain high teaching standards. 7. Prioritise you- this may seem obvious to most but I know I'm not the only teacher who has neglected their own well being for fear of not being on top of their game. This hit home to me when a member of staff over heard me on the phone to the doctor's surgery saying I couldn't make an appointment because I didn't have the time to visit a doctor. My colleague pointed out that my health was important and that I should be able to take half an hour or so out of my working day to look after myself, she backed up her point by saying that if I became too ill to work, I fall behind even more. Work is important and we owe it to our students to do a good job but it cannot be at the expense of our own well being, no one can teach decent lessons when they are not mentally and physically healthy. Don't get me wrong, I don't always manage to adhere to all these things and have been guilty of staying up late, skipping that coffee and cake with the girls, or eating my dinner with a red and green marking pen in hand. However, I do try to keep focusing on these and using them as a check list to avoid letting work out a strain on my marriage, family life and friendships. It's hard and maybe I'm not always staying in the 'good' category for work life balance, but I'm certainly aiming for it. What are your work life balance tips? How well do you manage it?