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This week on Monday Matters, Jen Schwanke and I discuss a recent newsletter of Jen’s entitled, “Protect Your Perimeter”. She begins the conversation by stating that “your perimeter” is the space around you that you need to be mentally and emotionally healthy. Educators often mistakenly fall into the mindset that they are an educator first and foremost, when the reality is that you do not benefit from wearing your education hat everywhere. Protecting your perimeter means allowing yourself the space to be someone besides an educator, and it’s important to surround yourself with people who allow you to be that person.
Protecting your perimeter also looks like being mindful that you cannot diagnose an education problem from a school that is not your own. Sometimes educators feel pressure to answer education questions about schools or districts that they know nothing about. But the reality is, there are a thousand moving parts behind every school decision that none of us could possibly know from the outside. Letting other leaders lean into their own wisdom to solve the problems their school or district may be facing is a good way to protect your perimeter and keep yourself from being stretched too thin.
Now it’s Your Turn:
Taking off your educator hat is easier said than done. As a way to practice protecting your perimeter, ask yourself the following two questions:
- What’s something you’re learning that excites you or has made the world seem more amazing to you?
- What’s something you’re currently still trying to learn or really struggling to understand or figure out?
Listen into the full conversation for more takeaways! And, as always, thank you for doing what matters!
