Wondering if you're ready to start working ahead as a teacher? Here are 5 signs that you're ready to stop catching up and start working ahead. Listen in to hear how you can say goodbye to teacher burnout and Sunday Scaries, and hello to effortless teaching!
Wondering if you're ready to start working ahead as a teacher? Here are 5 signs that you're ready to stop catching up and start working ahead. Listen in to hear how you can say goodbye to teacher burnout and Sunday Scaries, and hello to effortless teaching!
Hello and welcome to today's episode where we're going to be diving in to working ahead as a teacher. So you've been feeling behind lately and you're ready to start learning the secret to working ahead as a teacher. But you might be wondering how do I know that I'm ready? And if I do know I'm ready, or if I'm not ready, what do I need to do to get ready to start working ahead as a teacher? Well, we're going to be diving into that here, so stick around because you won't want to miss this.
Speaker 1:Hey, teacher Bestie, my name is Helena and I'm the creator of the Present Teacher podcast. I'm a first year teacher coach and in this podcast you are going to learn everything from simple, actual classroom management, social learning and teacher wellness strategies. You know that impact you want to make in the classroom, or we're going to make it happen here. So let's start talking about what you need to do in order to be ready and to start working ahead in your teaching career. The first thing you need to do or to have in order to be ready to start working ahead is you should have had your I'm dead moment. So this is the moment where you thought enough is enough, I'm ready. I've had it. I'm ready to make a change and you're ready for something different. You might be looking online for answers, but specifically, you've had that moment where you're thinking life has to be better than this, there has to be more to teaching than this, and I need to figure out a way to make this work.
Speaker 1:I personally had my I'm done moment during my first year of teaching my. I was teaching kindergarten at the time and my first group of kindergartners were graduating and as they were crossing the gym with their little diplomas in hand, I started crying, not because I was super proud of them or myself, if anything. I felt like a failure. I felt like I had failed them, and I felt me because I was so busy trying to get everything done and to be caught up as a teacher, that I missed the entire point of teaching and I could never get that year back. So that was my I'm done moment. I decided you know what? If this is teaching, I can't be a part of it, but I'm not ready to let go of a profession that I am super passionate about. So I need to figure out a way to make this work Now.
Speaker 1:You might have had a similar situation happen where you've had a breaking point, where you're thinking enough is enough, I need to figure out a way to make this work. And now you're at a crossroads path. You can either give up or you're looking for a way to make teaching easier. If you've had this moment, then that's a good indicator that you're ready to start working ahead. So the first sign that you are ready to start working ahead as a teacher is that you've had your I'm done moment.
Speaker 1:The second way to know that you are ready to start working ahead is you want to take back your personal time outside of teaching. You feel guilty as a teacher because you're not getting everything done In the meantime. You might have mom guilt or spouse guilt or friend guilt because you are spending your weekends working when you should be spending time with those that you love outside of teaching and you're exhausted of filling that guilt. You're seeing other teachers leave work at work. They're leaving at contract time and you're wondering how can you do it too, like my client who has eight weeks planned out and prepped in advance and she didn't bring any work home during Thanksgiving break. You know it's possible. You see other teachers in your district. You see teachers online. You see teachers starting businesses and doing all these amazing things and hobbies in four k's and five k's and you're wondering how in the world can you do it too? So, as a recap, the first sign that you know you are ready to start Working ahead is one you've had your I'm done moment. The second sign that you are ready is that you are ready to take back your personal time outside of teaching. You see other teachers do it and now you're trying to figure out how you can do it too.
Speaker 1:The third way to know that you are ready to start working ahead is you want to find an easier way to teach without sacrificing your quality of teaching. You know that there is an easier way to teach. You're not sure how, but you know it's out there. But you don't want to cut corners. You don't want to find the easy path. In the meantime, sacrifice the quality of teaching you're giving your students. You don't want to be a bad teacher, so you're looking online for answers and to your co-workers, but you're being extremely mindful of what strategies you're actually implementing, because you want to make sure that you are not doing anything that's going to sacrifice the quality of teaching that you are providing. You are looking for all the hacks and tips on time management to make teaching easier, and you're just not quite finding what you're looking for.
Speaker 1:So, as a recap, the first sign that shows that you are ready to start working ahead is one you've had your I'm done moment. The second sign that you are ready to start working ahead is that you want to take back your personal time outside of teaching. And the third sign that you are ready to start working ahead is you want to find an easier way to teach without sacrificing your quality of teaching or to cut corners. The fourth sign that you are ready to start working ahead as a teacher is that you've researched teacher time management hacks, whether that's on YouTube, pinterest, tiktok, instagram. You are looking through all those platforms, even Google, and you're reading the blog posts on how to save time in the classroom. You're filling Pinterest boards with ideas. You're listening to all the podcast episodes, trying to figure out how to do it. If you are finding yourself looking for time management hacks in the classroom, that's a good indicator that you are actively searching for a way to get working ahead, to start working ahead. So quick recap First way is showing that you have had your I'm done moment. The second sign that you are ready to start working ahead is you want to take back your personal time outside of teaching. And the third thing is you want to find an easier way to teach without sacrificing your quality of teaching. You want to be a good teacher while still enjoying your personal time. The fourth sign that you are ready to start working ahead is that you've researched teacher time management strategies. Maybe you've implemented some and they've kind of worked, but they haven't shown you the full transformation that you're looking for. They haven't been able to get you out the door consistently on time.
Speaker 1:Now that leads me into the fifth and final sign that you are ready to start working ahead as a teacher, and that step is looking for a step-by-step strategy to save you in, save you time in the classroom. Like I mentioned in the fourth sign, maybe you've tried different strategies online and maybe you found some that kind of work, but none of them have gotten that full ability or freedom to work or not work outside of teaching, and you're looking for a step-by-step strategy. You are actively searching Google, actively searching YouTube for somebody that has an answer on how to get you from feeling like you always have to catch up to actually working ahead and leaving work out, work without feeling guilty, and you're ready for that step-by-step that shows you A to Z. So when you research, you might be finding a lot of noise or a lot of different strategies that you're piecing together, but you're not necessarily sure how to make them all work cohesively and you're looking for that step-by-step way to do it. So those are the five signs that you are ready to start working ahead and I'm going to review them now.
Speaker 1:The first one is you've had girl, I'm done moment. You've had that moment where you thought enough is enough, I need to find a way out. I need to find a way to love teaching, to love life, without sacrificing one or the other. The second sign is you want to take back your personal time outside of teaching. You want to enjoy being a mom, being a spouse, going, hiking, doing those hobbies that you forgot about, maybe even starting a business to help other teachers online. The third sign that you are ready to start working ahead is you wanna find an easier way to teach without sacrificing your quality of teaching. You don't want to cut corners that will leave where students at a disadvantage. You wanna show up at your optimal level in the classroom and out.
Speaker 1:The fourth sign that you are ready to start working ahead is you've researched teacher time management hacks and strategies online. You've gone to Pinterest, gone to TikTok. You find yourself in that world of TikTok or Instagram looking for ideas and solutions. And the fifth sign that you are ready to start working ahead is you are looking for a step-by-step strategy. You've tried little strategies here and there and tried piecing them together, but now you're wanting a full A to Z, step-by-step on how to do it. So if any of these feel fully aligned with you and you feel like heck, yes, this is me. You know what. I've had my I'm done moment, I've had that moment where I'm ready to move on. I'm ready to take my teaching up to the next level. If you've had that moment where you are wanting to take back your personal time, you're tired of the Sunday scaries or trying to plan on the weekend when you should be snuggling up with your family on the couch watching Harry Potter. If you're like me, if you are ready to find an easier way to teach without sacrificing your quality of teaching, if you've researched time management hacks and you've pieced them together, but you really want a A to Z way to get there, then I would like to invite you, if this feels like a full body heck yes, to enjoy to join us inside the ready set prep three day challenge. Inside that challenge, I'll show you exactly how to go from feeling like you have to catch up all the way to leaving work consistently on time.
Speaker 1:Like one of my veteran clients that I worked with, she was consistently staying late and she was bringing home work home on the weekends and I worked with her last year and this year she started her very own business because she has so much time outside of teaching and can I say she's absolutely killing it. Or my other new client, new teacher client she was in her first five years of teaching and she was really starting to find that the joint teaching was lacking. She was exhausted, dare I say, burned out. She was having a hard time showing up and being engaged and excited and she was constantly staying late past six or 7 pm. She was bringing work home and within even a couple of months we discovered that she was able to plan out and prepare eight weeks out in advance. She didn't bring any work home over Thanksgiving. She enjoys trips to concerts around the world with her family and friends guilt free.
Speaker 1:So if this is something you wanna learn more about, I would highly highly recommend you come join us inside of this three day challenge. And if you feel like you wanna take it one step further, after this challenge, I will invite you to join us inside of Leaving Work on Time, which is a four week intensive program where I walk you through, step by step, in a small group setting, how to go from feeling like you're overwhelmed, trying to catch up, to being consistently leaving work on time, like my clients that have gone through leaving work on time, like I mentioned earlier. So that wraps up the five different signs that you are ready to start leaving work on time. As always, remember we are stronger together. I just wanna shoot some gratitude to your wing. Thank you so much for spending your morning or afternoon with me. I love recording podcasts and YouTube videos and I'm so grateful that you are here. As always, remember we are stronger together and I will talk to you soon.
Speaker 1:Teacher Besty Bye. ["sing a Song For You"]. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode. I hope that you were able to take away some value that will help you thrive inside and out of the classroom. It would mean the world to me if you could take five seconds right now and leave a review on this podcast. And if you found this podcast especially helpful, make sure to take a screenshot of this episode right now and tag me on your socials to let me know you're listening. As always. Remember that we are stronger together with All the Love In the World. Helena, aka the President, teacher. See you next time. Teacher Besty. ["sing a Song For You"].