Finding that OneWORD - BALANCE

Balance. That's hard for educators. Because we accept responsibilities that actually require 24/7/365 attention, balance is often unattainable. Juggling your own family and the responsibilities of parenting your own children can be overwhelming in itself. Now, add 22 smiling faces (or many, many more for some grades.) Add the baggage of those students, the personalities or their parents, the stress of state testing, the burden of differentiating curriculum for each child, the fact that many go home to empty homes, some come with empty stomachs, and don't forget the key to success is building relationships with each of these children. Oh, and remember, you need to become a 21st century teacher, grade papers for every child in every subject area in a timely manner, prepare for the next day's lesson, post grades and respond to every email within 24 hours. Meanwhile, you pull teeth, apply band-aids, wipe tears, find lost jackets, open milk cartons and check for lice. I could go on, but that isn't the point.
See, balance. I've already lost it.
Balance. It's hard for educators. As a principal, (who is kinda wound tightly and thrives on innovation and spontaneity) I see the most amazing staff taking risks and really integrating te
chnology seamlessly while embedding digital citizenship and encouraging creative, collaborative thinking. However, I haven't "mandated" anything new this year. We need to move forward with PLC's. We need to train in PBL.
But, they (my awesome staff) are so happy. They are thriving. They are getting out of their boxes and exploring. The kids are learning. They are happy.  They are engaged. They are learning.
This is the first point in my career as a principal where I have not been "pushing" something down on them. We've juggled balanced literacy, thinking maps, a plethora of math programs, all kinds of technology competencies, miscellaneous grants, a complete renovation, clubs for every student, a building-wide mentoring program, required community service for every child, data, a multitude of state standards changing, and a complete transformation in education - ouch, forgot that balance.
Bottom line, right now, I am just asking that they teach - and teach well. And, they are.
My struggle with balance though is making sure we are never stagnant, that we are moving forward and growing, but we also take time to actually teach, and teach well. We have to have time to look at what we are doing and reflect on how we can continue to improve. Sometimes, we just have to breathe.
Of course, it probably needs to be a short breath. We have a ton to do and an enormous task at hand to accomplish.
Hmmm, juggling while trying to balance, yep, that makes me a clown. I guess that's okay - as long as this clown makes everyone smile and doesn't drop anything. Of course, clowns have to breathe too.