I will be the first to admit I have control issues. “If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.” Fortunately, I’m also smart enough to know the best leaders know how to delegate and not micromanage every detail. Because the thing is, I can’t possibly be in two places at once. I have to choose to let somebody else take care of my students or let somebody else take care of my baby. Up until this moment in time, I wasn’t comfortable with either choice but I knew that My Sweet Baby needed me waaaaay more than my 6th graders did.
So I stayed home for the full 12 weeks (actually 13 with Spring Break – holla!) and tried as much as I could to keep tabs on my classroom. Let me tell you – it was REALLY hard to try to manage lessons, grades, parent contact, etc from home. I videotaped presentations, entered grades online and personally hand-delivered detailed lessons for each day of the first two major units/months. I learned very quickly that even with the fullest extent of micro-managing, NOBODY can ever be Mrs. Y and I need to just Let Go and concentrate on what really matters: Nobody can ever be Mommy either.
Who cares if on my first day back in my classroom, I find my whiteboard covered in messages about how much they love the sub and hear students repeatedly say “Well, the sub let us…” (which clearly explains the adoration). I will never be comfortable leaving any of my babies in the hands of others, but perhaps it’ll at least be easier the next time around. Or perhaps next time around, I’ll leave my students in the hands of an evil dictator.
No comments:
Post a Comment