The "Well Balanced Teacher" and Other Admirable Goals
Sometimes it's pretty difficult to conceive of life-work balance for teachers. Our jobs, more so than many others, tend to follow us home in unexpected, inconvenient, joyful, and painful ways. One of my goals for the coming year is to continue to improve as a professional educator while also maintaining a better sense of that balance. To that end, I recently read the book pictured at left, The Well-Balanced Teacher by Mike Anderson.One of Anderson's best pieces of advice in the book is to take what happens in the classroom less personally. He uses the example of homework: He can try to make the homework engaging and helpful; he can provide meaningful feedback; he can offer students assistance and make-ups after school; but, if they're still not doing