MY CHILDREN’S SCHEDULES
"When they were in preschool, it was quite easy. Childcare was available until 4:00 and by 4:00 I had finished my lessons and everything I needed to do. And then we had the late afternoon and evening for family. Elementary school was difficult because school ended at 12:00 or 1:00. That was also a period when I got relatively tired overall because everything just didn't fit together in terms of how life and school were working. And I'm not a night person, so I couldn’t just do all my work then. I can't work well in the evenings. So I ended up cutting down on my teaching hours a bit to make it all work."
KNOWING WHEN TO STOP
"I naturally have a pretty good sense of when it's too much. And then I actually stop working. But I think the really important thing is to be prepared for it (...) Perfectionists don't become happy as teachers. They can't become happy. My husband is a perfectionist. I'm so happy he's not a teacher. He can explain things really well—he’s fantastic at it. He was a lecturer at the university for a while and he never stopped working. The lesson plans he made were fantastic, but he wouldn't stop working on them because they weren't perfect yet. Perfectionists don't become happy as teachers because you can never be finished."
"You have to be satisfied with 80% and just say to yourself, 'Okay, that's the maximum amount of time you can take to prepare the lesson. What you've managed to do has to be enough.'"
“[You have to realize] that there are phases in life where your personal life demands more of you and then school has to take a back seat (…) I've learned to accept that for myself—there's no other option. If I also tried to put everything into my school work during those times, I wouldn't stay healthy on the long run and that wouldn't be good for anyone.”
“After five to ten years a certain number of teachers leave because they have found an alternative for themselves that they can cope with better. These are often people who can't overcome their perfectionism. Preparing for the fact that things can't be perfect is, I think, a very important thing—and that it's okay.”
“I always made sure I wouldn't go to my desk and work on Saturdays. It didn't matter what was going on, even if it was report card time. Saturday was reserved only for my children, my husband, shopping, housework, and free time.”
“[It's] important that you take this free time for yourself. Put away your cell phone and don't have your emails forwarded—maybe get them only on your computer. These practical tips really need to be taught, especially to younger colleagues who grew up with cell phones and don't know anything else—or at least they should be encouraged to try them out."
GRADING STUDENT WORK
"I can actually [deal with grading student work] quite well because I have two subjects that don't require as much correcting. That wouldn't be possible with German, English, or History."
"I optimize my grading. I don't grade a work twice. I know that many teachers look over students’ work twice. I don't do that. Instead, I discuss the work in detail with the children and if they notice that I've made a mistake, I correct it. That's how it's done. I'm 80% accurate. And that saves an incredible amount of time. I don't think I'd find many mistakes if I looked it over a second time, because I’d get tired, too. So I think it's an approach that works well for me."