Tech Balance

Finding a balance in life is something almost everyone is striving for. Questions begin to be asked, such as "When will I be able to finish all of this work?", "When can I get a break and get away from the constant daily grind?", or "When will I be able to just think about everything that is going on around me?"

Technology adds to the challenge of finding that balance because it is so entrenched within our society, and no more than ever in the culture of our schools. As you arrive to school, email after email begins to fill up your inbox and your phone begins to buzz with reminders, texts and calls. Then it's time to prepare a presentation online, put grades or read up on the most recent news. The bell rings as you finish up your final preparation for the class you are about to teach. You set up your class as fast as you can in order to greet your students. Class begins...bell rings again. You are off your next meeting. After the meeting it's time to respond to all of the emails you have received.

The cycle continues as the week goes on and in order to get away from it all we begin to rely on our phones or computers, but that requires us to exert our mental energy even more. When do we find the time to recuperate our brains? That is what we need a focus on mindfulness in a time of constant information being thrown at us. A time to take in the information being given to us, and then a time to appreciate what is actually happening around us.

As school leaders, we need to be aware of this challenge for our teachers and students. Are we giving teachers enough time to think about what they are doing? Are we implementing technology into our classrooms without preparing teachers and students? These are questions that school leaders will need to answer, along with many others. We have to make sure our community members and our personal life is being given the opportunities to "sharpen the saw" (Stephen Covey).

Todd Samuelson, a Canadian school administrator, wrote a great blog, in which spurred my thoughts for this writing. Here is the link for it: Finding the Balance.