As an ELA teacher, you know for certain that it involves a lot of paperwork. Essays take the longest to grade. Work can easily pile up. Parents begin to hound you wanting to know why their child’s grade hasn’t been updated, or why it suddenly dropped after you put a grade in. There are many things that can become overwhelming. So, when do you have to set grading aside for your mental health?
Being diagnosed recently with ADHD was life changing for me. Trying to keep up with the demands of my job and keep my anxiety in check was overwhelming. My anxiety was exacerbated by the fact that my ADHD constantly interrupted my best laid intentions. I easily lost focus. I had no set plan of action. I was easily distracted or procrastinated to the point that when I did sit down to complete my grading, I was anxious and depressed. There was no happy in between for me.
The one thing that I did change that changed how I did my job was to not grade things at home. I refuse to take work home. I would rather stop during the week and make my lesson plans for the following week, than to take time out of my weekend to create my lesson plans. Weekends are mine. Week day evenings are mine.
We cannot allow burnout to seep into our lives by constantly working. As a new teacher, I thought that was what I was supposed to do. Then I realized that all it did was create more work for me at home, and I didn’t have enough time to enjoy the things I liked. Now that I have grandchildren, I’d much rather sit down with them in the afternoon and love on them than grade papers. I even have to make myself not reply to emails during “my time.” It’s tempting. However, I realize that I am the one who has to protect what I deem to be “my time.” My personal time. The time that I need to work on me and be productive on things that matter at home and outside of work.
Don’t be a workaholic.
Set your boundaries.
I have work that I needed to get graded on Friday. I stacked it up with the answer key. It is sorted by classes. It will be waiting for me on Monday. I will sit down Monday during my planning (if I don’t have any meetings) and I will grade papers. When it is time to go, I will straighten up my desk, and I will leave for the day. I’m honoring my boundaries. Life is too short and our mental health requires us to give ourselves a break to relax.
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