This week, I will like to speak on what my school leader mentioned during one of the meetings regarding the challenges of balancing between work and family.
Often I hear of teachers reporting a maturing of practice after becoming parents, having the first-hand experience about raising their children and especially teachers whose children just entered schools. I myself after becoming a parent had such a change of ways towards moulding my students in terms of academic teaching and character development. When I think of my flurry of daily activities, foremost in my thoughts is my family. I feel that parenting, teaching and leadership are tightly interwoven. And I find that it is a constant juggling act in which each informs me of the other, and each also strengthens the other. My main challenge will be to maintain this attitude that each of the three facets (parenting, teaching and leadership) complements each other as my roles and responsibilities grow.
At home with my family, I share about experiences in the school and in the classroom. In the classroom, I share about experiences about my family – often with a comical edge about my children. In the previous reflections, I mentioned about the different opportunities to become different people. Such different roles have enabled me to make connections about how one part of my life informs another. Take for example the skills I had learnt as a parent, these are often the same skill set in the context of teaching. Perspectives as a parent are often aligned to the goal as a teacher. This is the powerful influence of parenting on teaching. Likewise, I also bring expertise about school work from my professional setting to my home. This is the connection between parenting and teaching.
Leadership in school comes in many forms and in multiple settings and this is how I connect parenting to leadership. Those of us who are both parents and teachers often asked the question: Would I want my child to attend this school? What should education of my child include? Will the place I work be also a place I would want my child to study in? Such questions have led me to set a higher standard for my practice as a middle manager. For example, I hope to become a better listener and more observant about how I am present to the teachers. In my daily actions and words, I try to make the environment I am in charge of a better learning community for my students.
Some teachers may have conflicting feelings about work and family. However, to me, the standard for what makes a good education comes to some degree from the family and striving to create the learning community (which is our work) for learners.
Often I hear of teachers reporting a maturing of practice after becoming parents, having the first-hand experience about raising their children and especially teachers whose children just entered schools. I myself after becoming a parent had such a change of ways towards moulding my students in terms of academic teaching and character development. When I think of my flurry of daily activities, foremost in my thoughts is my family. I feel that parenting, teaching and leadership are tightly interwoven. And I find that it is a constant juggling act in which each informs me of the other, and each also strengthens the other. My main challenge will be to maintain this attitude that each of the three facets (parenting, teaching and leadership) complements each other as my roles and responsibilities grow.
At home with my family, I share about experiences in the school and in the classroom. In the classroom, I share about experiences about my family – often with a comical edge about my children. In the previous reflections, I mentioned about the different opportunities to become different people. Such different roles have enabled me to make connections about how one part of my life informs another. Take for example the skills I had learnt as a parent, these are often the same skill set in the context of teaching. Perspectives as a parent are often aligned to the goal as a teacher. This is the powerful influence of parenting on teaching. Likewise, I also bring expertise about school work from my professional setting to my home. This is the connection between parenting and teaching.
Leadership in school comes in many forms and in multiple settings and this is how I connect parenting to leadership. Those of us who are both parents and teachers often asked the question: Would I want my child to attend this school? What should education of my child include? Will the place I work be also a place I would want my child to study in? Such questions have led me to set a higher standard for my practice as a middle manager. For example, I hope to become a better listener and more observant about how I am present to the teachers. In my daily actions and words, I try to make the environment I am in charge of a better learning community for my students.
Some teachers may have conflicting feelings about work and family. However, to me, the standard for what makes a good education comes to some degree from the family and striving to create the learning community (which is our work) for learners.
Yes, you have just described how I also live family, teaching and leadership in a tight balance. And I like your concept of one feeding the others, making all an integral part of each other.
ReplyDeleteAnd I also draw my energy and inspiration from my 3 daughters.