Working *SMARTER*... not harder

So it's Sunday, ~4:20pm and it's time I sit down and get started thinking about what I need for the week.

No this moment is not the first time I've thought about school since I left school at 4:30 on Friday. Not if you count:

1. scouring teacher's blogs on Google Reader /Pinterest for inspiration 
2. emailing links to articles on Google Reader/Pinterest in hopes of remembering the great ideas that I come across. 

But it is the first time that I'm sitting down and starting to get to work to seriously prep for the week. In hindsight, I should give myself bonus points because this is much earlier than I started last weekend (but only by about 4 hours).

Of those weekend blog readings, one in particular that struck me most was one by a fellow colleague I went to graduate school with. Her husband has limited her to no more than a ~60 hour work week; no working past 7:00pm and only 5 hours on the weekend. There was a bit of a lightbulb that went off, like, of course I should do that too.

Sometimes it doesn't seem so easy, but it goes back to the philosophy of working smarter rather than working harder. During my first year of teaching, I was naive to think that being in school until I got kicked out at 7:00pm (or even 7:30pm) meant I was working harder. Now teachers get the boot at 6:00pm and even then it's sometimes pushed to 6:20; 6:30pm. (It has to be my Hispanic roots  that doesn't let me leave at a certain time.)

It took me half a year to realize that I was tired and didn't really feel like that much was being accomplished. But I was stuck in a weird limbo. Do I stay up late and plan and be ready for the next day? Or go to bed feeling rested but have no idea what I'm doing in the morning? Which is more exhausting and leads to more stress?

I'm still working out my routine, but one change this year is going to help me figure it out. Our weekly lesson plans are now due by Monday, 8:00a.m. which means I need to have them done by Sunday at 9:00/10:00pm so I can go to sleep at a decent hour.

Yet what it REALLY means is that I need to have them by Sunday afternoon (ideally Saturday) if I want them to get checked by my assistant principal. Which is a great opportunity for her to know what's going on in my classroom and to get feedback on my plans (which is exciting and scary at the same time).

With that said, it's 4:44pm and it's time to get started.....right after I put pasta in the boiling water to eat for dinner. :)