On Almost Quitting a Challenging Thing
Reflections from my current working life.
This past November, I asked to put down my role as an instructional coach next year. I did so for a few reasons, but my feeling at the time was that I was doing too much, and too much of what I was doing was taking my focus from the primary responsibilities of being a present parent in the lives of my young children (less young every day), and teaching students. Instructional coaching, a responsibility that occupies two of the blocks that I would otherwise be teaching along with a variety of after school meeting obligations over the course of the year, seemed like a pretty good thing to drop to return to more central concerns.
It didn’t happen. I’m still an instructional coach next year. Still teaching two fewer blocks than I would otherwise be doing. Still outside the classroom a bit more than I might otherwise prefer. This was very much my own decision. The various decision-makers who I spoke with while puzzling it through were open to at least reducing my coaching obligations for next year. I don’t know that it would have actually happened when it was all said and done, but I certainly did not feel dismissed when I broached the topic.
What shifted my thinking? It wasn’t just one thing. On some level, I recognized that there was a bit of me wanting to drop…
