It was Saturday night and our school counselor texted me for clarification of a grade. I gave a prompt response and jumped right on my laptop. Before I knew it, I was fielding responses and completing documents. An hour had passed before I returned to my show. Did I mention it was Saturday night?
One of the major challenges of modern day lifestyle is leaving work so you can come home to your family. While in a home-based learning environment this is increasingly difficult to do. Email is generally in our pockets and work may only be a tab away. Countries like France went as far as passing a law banning email after work hours. Couple this with the fact that you're a teacher, or you work in a school, and you’ve probably been struggling for some time. One of the main inspirations for taking back control of my time is the book “Deep Work” by Cal Newport. Check out his appearance and discussion on a recent podcast via Planet money. “Nice work week, if you can get it” Educators have always found it difficult to only work 8 hours a day. I don't know any teacher who does it perfectly. In fact, most of our work days go from 7:00 till 4:30 anyhow. We usually have to grade, create lessons, or coach outside those hours. It's only after years of teaching the same subject and grade level where you can rinse and repeat the work that you have. But in our ever-evolving curricular environment, this has become increasingly difficult. Working outside school hours is practically a requirement to keep your head above water. Not too long ago I completed a time audit with Angela Watson Truth for teachers (another inspiration of mine). It was career-changing. It helped me decide what to assess, how much to assess, when to close the laptop, and put down the grading pen. A common critique of this is “oh, well if you're not working until 6pm every day, you're probably not doing your job.” I’d argue differently. By being efficient about my time, and establishing boundaries, I am able to accomplish more than I would by dragging my day to 7 PM every night. If teachers work too hard they burn themselves out and bring home nothing to their spouse. How are we meant to care for students if we can’t care for ourselves? Teachers and faculty, like students, need to be well rested and have a good work life balance. And if you're a teaching couple you better be into this time management thing together. Everything I've said so far probably sounds familiar. Maybe you read it in a magazine or maybe you hear people talk about it at the water cooler. Perhaps you did a PD on it. “Well-being” has become an all too common buzz-word. Nowadays, we have meetings about well-being, when what we really need is time to ourselves. You can’t control everything in your work life, but you can control your sphere of influence. Here are the top five things I do to separate my work life from my personal life. 1- Time block- Every time you start to grade a group of papers, lesson plan, or respond to emails, time yourself. GIve yourself an hour and take a break. Return to it for another hour after that break. You'll find yourself to be much more productive and the day doesn't slip away toggling between tasks. 2- Wake up early- Of course this is easier said than done. I find myself to be much more efficient on the morning of a class than the night before. Maybe it’s the time constraint that convinces me to scrap all the potential classroom ideas and focus on the manageable. This doesn't mean wait until the last minute. I put a lot of time into my lessons throughout the week. But that extra hour in the morning can have an exponential impact on your productivity. The main goal here: allow yourself to finish work early, go to gym, pick up your kids, or just eat dinner without your device. 3- Use tech to help- Sometimes less is more. I often see many teachers, myself included, trying to use every website or game-based learning tool available. As a former technology education coach and current technology aficionado,I advocate less is more. Have one or two go to sites. When your students become familiar with them, they’ll be much more efficient too. If you feel emboldened to try a new website, or a new game once a month, then plan for it. We waste so much time learning new software and programs that we may only use once. Your students like a routine. They appreciate the familiar much as the app of the week. 4- Chunk your email responses. A colleague of mine once said it perfectly “every email I receive is a task.” Group those tasks into one of the time blocks proposed above. This may be hard to do at first, but it pays tremendous dividends. If you work in a school you may find that emails will come across your desk from sunup to sundown. That doesn't mean you need to sit there and reply to them all simultaneously. How would you teach, or do your other jobs if all you did was reply to emails as they appeared? A band teacher I worked with had an automated response that stated he is checking emails at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. This came across as a little bitter and resentful and I wouldn't recommend it, but his point was made. He was not on the computer. He was teaching instruments! 5- Have the evenings to just you and your family. This is the most important one. Admittedly, my wife and I aren’t great at it, but we try to exclude school discussion from our dinner table. Sometimes we ask each other if we can talk about work for a minute to coach each other through difficult issues. We give ourselves a small window once home, but after that, work gets turned off. Your evenings should be for you, and they could easily slip away with one comment about work. Use this time to go for a walk. Infact, sometimes we allow ourselves to walk and talk about work, but when we return home it's all about life and family. Funny enough, the band teacher mentioned above use to have a clever tactic. Between him and his wife, whomever talked about work first had to complete a tedious, but time consuming task. They always had trouble getting water delivered. It was easy to order, but they had to wait outside for it to be delivered. Whoever broke the rules was tasked with waiting for the water. These strategies aren't bulletproof, but they are a step in the right direction. Granted we don't have kids so a lot of this is easier said than done. Maybe you’ll see something in one of these bullet points that help you improve your life. Make your own list and let me know how it works.
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(In the photos above you see food lines before lockdown, empty streets, vaccine distribution centers, emails we get from our building of people isolating themselves) Just when you thought everything was going to be normal, the world turned upside down again. For the past year-and-a-half, I've written about how wonderful it has been to live in Vietnam during the pandemic. I was cautious not to brag, but at no point during that time did I ever wish to move countries. The truth is, the past 16 months were a steal from the world. Vietnam largely avoided the lockdowns and mandates other nations struggled to accept. Recently, Vietnam has come face to face with it's largest Covid wave yet. I'm afraid next year may not be as generous to us. For a large portion of the year businesses remained open with only minor hiccups for social distancing. Schools held basketball games, restaurants had parties, and holiday celebrations took place, largely uninterrupted. But institutions began to close back in May 2021. Since then we have seen the number of cases in Ho Chi Minh City go from tens, to hundreds, to thousands per day. I recall the days when people were frightened at 100 cases across the country. Now we have hundreds of deaths per day. It seems a large portion of this is due to overwhelmed medical facilities and an inability to apply contacting tracing to such high numbers. See daily Vietnam Covid statistics here Vietnam was praised for its early intervention. Its ability to locate and squash clusters was unparalleled in the Western world. Airports and borders monitored people arriving very closely with a forced 14-21 day quarantine. We doubled down on the border closing strategy and only special permits were granted to professionals to enter the country. The small tourist towns felt the hit, but the financial hubs kept pumping. It still isn’t clear where and when the leak originated. Early on people blamed a local church for violating rules . Later it was the factories to blame. The government was doing such a good job stomping out the cases that everyone felt safe to travel. See this article from April 2021 when there mass travel over a holiday with little fear of transmission. None of that matters now. In many ways this is Vietnam’s first true test. Over the last three months we saw restaurants, food delivery, and now grocery stores close. Vietnam has changed their strategies several times, which in my eyes, is a great strength. The old ways of quarantining people and providing them food and shelter until they tested negative was not sustainable. Now people are forced to quarantine in their house if they test positive or came into contact with someone who was. They call this an "F0." For a time, one positive case in an apartment complex could shut down the whole building for 14 days (this happened twice to the same building right beside us). That rule, thankfully, has changed. Testing has increased dramatically around the city. Even then the ruling government has acknowledged that we can't have a lockdown forever. The last 12 days have been a total lockdown. We must stay indoors completely for 3 more. Only a few members of the community have been permitted to go outside: convenience store workers, delivery truck drivers, military, police and a handful of others that are deemed essential. I've never seen this city’s roads so empty. We had plenty of food to begin with, but are slowly running out. Ordering more food from a local grocery store via Google spreadsheet is the only way to get a delivery (this varies by the district and building you live in). We have Wi-Fi, water, AC and each other. The main battle we face is the anxiety of when this will end. My biggest concern is the poor Vietnamese friends I have. When businesses closed in America, stimulus checks were sent out. When people lost their jobs, most of them got unemployment benefits. Legislation was passed to give those who didn’t qualify for benefits some form of help. In hindsight, these transfer payments didn’t help Americans equally, but it was something. Vietnam is still very much a developing country. Though buildings here may look big and glamorous, the wealth gap is larger and more prevalent than the Western world. On my way to work I regularly see poor people, sometimes children selling lotto tickets when they should be going to school. This is a very unfortunate circumstance, and an ugly side of the industrialization of a nation. Many migrant workers who couldn’t return to their countryside home were forced to stay put. These workers are starting to receive $75 a month in benefits, enough to get by on rice and a shared dorm. You witness lot of charity happening in the news here, even towards foreigners. Vietnam is doing everything it can to keep it’s people safe, but I am afraid it is not enough in the face of Covid. The country is dependant on donations from foreign countries until its vaccine order can be filled. The stakes are high. I am rooting for this country and its people. If there is one surprising thing about all this it's how quickly and swiftly Vietnam takes action. We got our first vaccine (AztraZeneca) within days of them being announced. I think this current lock down will eventually flatten the curve. Where we differ from the world last year is we can now use that break to distribute the vaccine to everyone in the city. This is a massive feat. They’ve been giving out approximately 250,000 a day. Time will tell. Cố lên, Vietnam! (Keep up your best effort, Vietnam). A while back I started to compile a list of things I loved about Vietnam. I was planning on leaving the country for good, so certain aspects of life started to stand out more than others. As I soaked in my final weeks, I began to appreciate why I lived here for so long. It was more about the small quirkiness an ingenuity than the obvious hustle and bustle of the country. Overtime, I have come to take many ways of life this country has to offer for granted. This is to appreciate all the little things in life.... in Vietnam. Upon entering most destinations in Vietnam you encounter your heavy industrial facilities first. Construction commercial stores line the highways. These areas are generally separate from your city centers, but not far off. When you enter a city like Ho Chi Minh, or Ha Noi, you'll begin to see densely packed homes, and shopping centers that sell every possible consumer good and service. Usually, the stores are on the roadside in the front portion of someone's home. It's entrepreneurship at its best. There aren’t many big supply stores like Home Depot or Wal-Mart, though that is changing fast. These mom and pop options repeat themselves every other block: Food, coffee, pharmacy, hair salon, convenience store... repeat. The commercial and residential zones here are blurred. Massive high rises are built right next to small slum-like shacks and heavily guarded mansions you wouldn't know existed unless you peaked over their fence. As you get further away from the city you'll see more and more agricultural-based squares of property harvesting the world's rice. Homes here range from ram shackles to tornado-proof looking fortresses. If there is a beach near any of these descriptions above then there are generally loads of tourists along with it (pre-covid). The beaches during the day in Vietnam are very quiet. The sun here is way more powerful than the rays I used to catch in New York or Arizona. In addition to the obvious pulls of Vietnam like the pristine coastline, mountains, weather, exoticness, and food, there are many things one will begin to appreciate over time. Below is a list of some of m favorite.
I recently returned to one of my favorite places in Vietnam: Dalat.
Da Lat is famous for its cool air, mountainous forest views, and of course, haunted houses. It's also home to some of the country's best golf clubs, excellent outdoor hikes, French colonial architecture, and the weasel poop coffee. Yup, you read that correctly. It's a delicacy in some places around here, but don’t let that lead you to believe it’s what the locals drink. The tourists come to view the farms and buy the coffee as gifts. I don’t know of one successful weasel poop chain in Vietnam. I also don’t know anyone who drinks it. Unless…. we are all unknowingly drinking it. Additionally, as ugly as the animal is, animal rights activists would be appalled by the living conditions of some of these weasels. They are kept in cages solely to eat and poop all day. Ionically the chickens, dogs and cows all have more rights around here. They roam the streets freely. The town is loaded with cafes, strawberries farms, eateries and many Vietnamese tourists. During certain times of the year Da Lat will sell out completely. You will be competing for rooms with thousands of other Vietnamese families. But don’t let that discourage you. Make sure you can stay for at least three days. Two is not enough due to the lengthy time it takes to get there. It's generally 6-8 hours from HCMC via Futa bus, or Nguyen Kim limousine. It's all worth it. A flight is possible, but by the time you check in and drive to town it would probably be 4 hours. The bus is just easier. Nikki and I had both been to Da Lat, but this was our first time going together. We booked the Lake House, a place I stayed at in a previous visit. It was a holiday weekend, May 1st, so it was bound to be busy. The first time I went, I said to myself, “this is my favorite place in Vietnam.” It's a bunch of little cabins along the lake. Since it’s popularity has grown, the condition of the place has dwindled. The cabins need some better upkeep. However, they are well worth the price you pay: about 25-50 USD a night. They still have really helpful staff and a very friendly owner. It’s worth mentioning they will cook up a huge and delicious vegetarian meal each night for 3 USD. Unfortunately, this time it took over 13 hours to get there form HCMC. The route to the city of Da Lat is a long and winding road through the mountains. In a country where people already drive on the wrong side of the road, that is a recipe for disaster. In fact, there used to be regular reports of bus accidents along the route. On rare occasions some would roll off the cliff. The city has developed enough in recent years to have safety guard rails anywhere you need them. Along with the slow moving traffic, getting there safely was no longer an issue. We had a really comfortable sleeper bus, too. This allowed us to lay down and watch a few films. It was some precious downtime we desperately needed. They stop at busy road side restaurants along the way, so the journey there becomes a bit of an adventure. Ohh yea, did I mention the town had no traffic lights? It was a day after a small Covid outbreak so when we heard the news we tried to keep our masks on the whole way. Upon our night time arrival we were greeted with a meal prepared earlier for us. We can’t thank the owner enough for making sure we had something to eat. Our stay was 15 minutes outside the main town, alongside Tuyen Lam Lake, and arriving past 10 PM meant nothing within reach would be open. As I stated earlier, this visit was a bit busier due to a holiday. For some reason everyone in this country wakes up at 5 AM. Noise is generally acceptable by 6 AM. It must be the constant purr of motorbikes that makes people immune to the movement of people in and around our buildings. Da Lat during this time was no quieter than Ho Chi Minh City. But we did get to wake up on a lake with million dollar views. Nikki and I eased into the day with coffee beside the lake. We later rented a scooter provided by the Lake house to tour the town. We ate anything and everything for three days straight. Da Lat isn’t hard to do. You can pull over anywhere and get what you need. It's a very densely packed region, which means when you find food, you can usually find coffee, a tourist attraction and a farm nearby. We continued sightseeing, food eating and coffee drinking for the remainder of our days. We were lucky enough to get good weather every day. We used it to do a coffee tour at Son Pacamara Cafe roastery. And though you aren’t really walking through fields of coffee, mainly because it’s on a hill, the lessons they give, and the roasting process is fun to experience. We also found a hillside strawberry farm where we picked our strawberries. The farmer surprisingly spoke great English, and had family in Arizona. He and I shared a “Vietnamenglish” conversation. I used each morning to go for a swim in the lake. I was only creeped out once when I saw a huge blue frog hop my way. I tried not to think about what other creatures were lurking beneath. The Lake House is great for those couples looking to rough it a little bit. They have some nice hammocks to lay beside the lake and do nothing if that's your style. But it was a bit rough than it used to be. For example, our cabin must have fallen off the hinges at some point and not been repaired. In the dark of the night, a huge mutant forest locust flew into our bedroom. It reminded me of the Christmas Vacation scene when the squirrel sneaks into the house through the tree, then ends up on grandpa's head. Well, we thought we got this thing out only to realize moments later it was on Nikki's back. She screamed and I laughed. It continues to give us both a good laugh and makes a funny story to tell. Nikki managed to survive my rougher style of travel. She also enjoyed the adventure. I can see how “glamping” is a bit less comfortable for a woman. As her reward we will be staying at a very posh beach resort later next month. Until next time... Some other highlights: Avocado ice cream Elephant falls Water Fall Chocolate at the Old Railway Station Domaine de Marie Pink Church Truc Lam Temple Trendy coffee shops everywhere Starting the school year on the terms we started ours was a recipe for disaster. We went from moving countries and starting at a new school, to frantically searching for jobs locally and stopping our shipment overseas. We still had to move, but we weren’t sure where to because we no longer had our previous jobs. The transition Life hit us pretty fast. After use our networks we were offered jobs, good jobs, locally. We had to adjust to the reality we would be staying in Vietnam much longer. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, but the depression lingered. The anticipation of adventure and a new culture was swept away. Turns out there would have been no adventure upon arriving in Kuwait. We would have been in lock down and online learning for most of the year. For the first 3 months of school it seemed like we could never get ahead. With Nikki in her first complete year of teaching and me in my first year of IB, and a new subject, we were constantly fighting to keep our heads above water. But we persisted. We started to get our footing sometime around November. Fast forward 6 months of really hard work and lots of sleepless nights and we finally feel normal. School feels great, actually. I really enjoy teaching the Diploma Programme. It took some getting used to, but the message behind this post is that all new locations will take some getting used to. IB schools just have a bigger learning curve. Don't give up. Like grad school all over There was a lot of doubt within myself as to whether or not I could take on this role and do it well. By the time Christmas rolled around I felt I exceeded the expectations of my harshest critic, myself. My friend reminded me that starting at any new school will be difficult for the first three months. They were right, but it did get better. You have to sacrifice a lot to get a little. No more binge watching your favorite TV shows. It was textbook-crunch time like I was back in grad school. Only this time I had to learn the content and learn how to teach it simultaneously. Granted, I may not have needed to study as much if I were teaching psychology or social studies, but economics was a whole new language for me. Call me crazy, but now I really like economics. The new syllabus, (I was teaching the old one to grade 12 and the new one to grade 11) is packed with social-sustainability concepts. I can see myself teaching IB econ for many years to come. Humble pie Additionally, when you enter a new school, your reputation doesn't precede you. Even if your accomplishments are well known in the community, very few people care about them. They won’t care until they get to see what you can do while working with them. This was hard for me because I was well respected in my previous school. Now I had to earn my keep. It was a large piece of humble pie as I struggled to speak in the IB language. I often felt my input was less valued. I was new to IB and only after teaching it for a whole year do I finally see its purpose clearly. IB vs AP From the teacher's and student's perspective, the Advanced Placement is much easier. The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme definitely prepares these students better for university. All the more reason for me to just listen and teach my class. It's a good learning experience. Listen to the discussion. Take notes and ask questions when the time is right. They’ve been down this road before. Learn from them. Taking the IB workshop (category 1 or 2) will not prepare you enough. The only thing that can prepare you will be being in a school that does it. Consider that next time you want to break into top tier school. Good support A good school will have the right people there to support you. I had great people around me to help me adjust. Their goal was my goal: to better teach the students. If you are a good colleague and a strong teacher you can work anywhere. But if you isolate yourself, you'll become a hermit, and you might very well be digging your own grave. You’ve got to be able to thrive in multiple types of environments. The material you need won’t also be there either. In my nine years teaching I could hardly re-use anything for IB. My skill sets, and classroom management were the only things that were transferable to the new school. Be prepared to cough up a few dollars of your own to make your work easier. Teacher pay teachers assignments came in very handy. Prepare for next year With that said, it was an enormous relief to get through the first semester, and an even bigger relief to finally send our seniors off this April. At this point in the year I'll be continuing to teach my grade 11s. I’ll also be refining and crafting my lessons for the years to come. It's only April and it's time to prepare for next school year. I 've already started to reorganize the cabinets. I want my material to be easily accessible and lessons to run like a well-oiled machine. If I can start the next school year off ahead, it will be much easier to take on more roles. Some other keys to success:
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