SETTING BOUNDARIES AROUND PHONE MESSAGES
“At least it used to be that you didn't have teachers’ personal cell phone number, which my students and their parents do. And it's horrible. But you need to know how to set boundaries. I don't answer random students who send me Whatsapps about lost worksheets. I think that a lot of the overwhelm comes from people who don't know how to say no.”
“Anything students send me—anything anyone sends me through my phone—I will address it next time I see you, not a minute earlier (…) I've had little fights with the school administration about staff things. I don't need to be in thirty staff Whatsapp groups with five hundred messages a day. That's a little crazy and unnecessary, and gets in the way of getting things done. With students and parents, I just don't answer, or I tell them that I'm not going to answer, and that's that.”
FLEXIBILITY IN HOW MUCH I TEACH
“Here you choose how many hours a week to teach and you choose a lot or a little. A significant factor is how much money you need, right? Say, twenty-four hours a week is a standard full-time job. So you could choose to work thirty and then you'll be really stressed and overwhelmed, but you'll make more money. And you can choose to work twelve and then you have lots of time (….) For next year, it's not obvious to me that I'll teach full time. I might decide 90% or 80% is enough—and I'll have a little bit of free time. There are years where I worked what is called ‘120%’—you know, extra classes. And then you work much harder.”
“I'm giving suggestions to policymakers: Raise the pay, and we'll teach less, and then we'll be happier.”
NO COMMUTE
“I don't have a commute. If I were commuting an hour a day, life would look different.”